As the Seventh Month Dies
by Ariana Flynn Riddle
Summary: "... Born as the seventh month dies," What if the prophecy wasn't only referring to the one to defeat the Dark Lord, what if it was also warning of the birth of a Dark Lord? Harry has a twin story, twin is BWL. This is a Harry turns dark story where his parents are still alive. Dark!Harry, Powerful!Harry, and a lot of other evil/cunning Harrys!
1. Far, Far Away

**AN: Hello! This is my first fanfiction, so please don't be too harsh, although I'll welcome any advice you can give! Also, it's highly likely I'll forget to mention this in other chapters, but I do not own Harry Potter nor the idea of a Dark Harry posing as Voldemort's son. Also, I will probably go rather fast through Harry's early life so that A. I can add flashbacks that don't have to be something I've already written, and B. It'd probably be really dang boring! Now that that's out of the way, to the story!**

"Good morning! Harry! Get out of bed! It's your brothers birthday today, and your mother and I decided the three of us should bake him a surprise!" Father announced, a giant grin on his face.

'Bet he won't do anything this special for my birthday tomorrow' Harry grumbled, his brother, Griffith, was the boy-who-lived, he had been born just moments before July became August, which made him fit a prophecy. Harry was born only a minute after, but the clock had already passed midnight. Sometimes Harry joked to himself that their clock had been off or they were switched at birth, but of course, witches and wizards wouldn't be stupid enough to make that kind of mistake would they? If that were true, Harry thought he fit so much better than his stupid little brother. But of course, everyone had to worship the little boy-who-lived, on his fifth birthday. Mother and Father always talked about how Griffith would be a great wizard when he grew up. If Harry ever asked, Mother and Father would say they were sure he would be good to, but that he should never aspire to be something he's not.

Harry jumped out of bed, if he took too long, he'd probably get a talking-to from Mother about how do is half of done and he shouldn't waste time on getting up, it built bad habits. He hurriedly roughly transfigured his clothes into something like robes. His brother had burnt his old robes and Harry knew Mother and Father wouldn't believe him if he told them the truth. His transfiguration wasn't great, the robes seemed stiff and when light went on them they had the poka-dots of his pajamas. Harry smirked proudly all the same though, his brother couldn't even transfigure shapes! They both had gotten wands, since Mother and Father had grudgingly agreed when Harry begged them to let him get one too. That also made Harry proud, he'd gotten the wand that was the brother of the wizard whom his brother defeated. It seemed that destiny wanted Harry to disagree and punish his brother. His wand seemed to beg it of him. Griffith couldn't understand his wand, not like Harry did.

Harry skipped down the stairs softly, carefully counting and going over those that squeaked. His parents would kill him if he woke up Griffith. Quickly stepping over the last stair, Harry turned right into the large kitchen. It had a gold and red theme, as did almost everything in the house. Mother and Father were very proud of the house they came from in Hogwarts, Gryffindor. He thought it was a rather stupid thing, as Hogwarts was simply a school, but many seemed to think it was the center of the universe, what house you were in could judge what kind of job you get. Hufflepuffs would get chosen as judges and such commonly, because they were loyal and trustworthy. Ravenclaws would be librarians, teachers, and also sometimes working in the Ministry with Hufflepuffs. Slytherins were never trusted, but rarely actually ever caught doing anything bad, although it seemed clear to many they were up to something. No one ever could out-con or cheat a Slytherin, they were cunning, the opposite of Gryffindors, Slytherins were slightly proud but understood self-perseverance. As such, they were usually seen in the Ministry as the criminals, not the judges or victims. Lastly, there were Gryffindors, they would likely get jobs as treasure seekers, Aurors, or work in dragon reserves. Harry thought they were the most likely to get killed, they never seemed to think before they acted.

Harry was suddenly shoved a pan, flour, eggs, and all the other ingredients needed to make pies, cake, cookies, etc. He quickly set to work, any slowness could be used against him. The cake was in the oven in record time and Harry was quickly stirring the cookie batter. Then, things started to go wrong, Mother and Father had gone out because they decided to get Griffith a few extra presents to add on to the… 33? Presents they had already gotten him. Harry knew they had gotten him around three new toddler-brooms because they always ended up broken because Griffith could barely fly them. There was also a few books, galleons, a ton of candies, a few living figures, a stack of picture books, a broom repair kit (like Griffith would be the one doing the repairing), a magical fake cauldron that was safe for kids, fake ingredients for said cauldron, and a bunch of other stuff Griffith would never use.

Griffith came stomping down the stairs like a giant troll. He saw that Harry was baking the cake and scowled, "What are YOU doing, baking my cake? Hey, is that a solid chocolate cake? I told you, I wanted a wizards chocolate and sweet lemon cake!" Griffith shouted, throwing a fit.

"Mother and Father agreed that it was too expensive, anyways, you don't deserve it," Harry told him.

"Oh really? I defeat the darkest wizard in over a century when I'm fifteen months old and I don't deserve a good cake? Huh?" Griffith warned.

"No."

"Well, if I don't get the cake I want, then I don't want any cake at all!" Griffith simmered, walking over to the oven, turning the temperature up as high as possible, and turning to Harry, "And when the parents ask who did it, it's all your fault! Little Harry didn't want Griffith to enjoy his birthday, little Harry hates his brother!" He sneered.

Then Griffith runs and tackles Harry, Harry struggles, managing to punch Griffith in the eye, which would likely later become a black eye. Suddenly, a crack could be heard from the fireplace. Harry wriggled out from underneath Griffith, standing up to see his Mother and Father looking confused. Griffith groaned, he wasn't hurt badly, why wasn't he getting back up? Oh no, Harry looked at his parents, fear in his eyes, Griffith was going to tell some sob story about how Harry burnt his cake on purpose then attacked him. Father runs over to Griffith and picks him up, cradling him in both arms, then he glares at Harry.

"Harry! What have you done! Go to your room and think exactly about what you've done, Lily and I will sort out your punishment and your poor brother!" Father shouted, then he harshly kicked Harry in the knee, not as hard as Griffith had, but it was the thought that mattered.

Harry dashed off and up the stairs, ignoring the pain in his ankle and the blood matting his hair as he ran into his room and locked the door. Then he allowed himself to weep for five seconds. Only five seconds, because any longer would be pointless, and it would prove him weak. He decided to make a very important decision, he was leaving. Then he grabbed his trunk, his ragged, rusty, torn, hand-me-down trunk. The magic in it was strong though, and that was all that mattered. Harry stuffed everything he had in it, including some things that didn't, that he had stolen from the Potter library, or found in his brother's trash can. Even so, it only barely filled one of the almost infinite compartments the trunk had. That included a broomstick Harry had managed to steal from his brother. Once shut, the trunk weighed little more than a pound, nothing Harry couldn't manage, with all the work his parents and brother had him do. Then Harry sneaked over to the huge window right by his bed in the attic. Pushing it open, it left plenty of room for Harry to fly his broomstick and trunk out of the house. Harry set the trunk about five centimeters away from the back of the broomstick, then pushed the button that made it clamp down on that spot. Then Harry carefully lifted off the ground, inching out the window before closing it.

The fresh air of the beginning of fall blew in Harry's face, with a shiver, Harry pulled on his blanket and put a few simple temporary sticking charms on it so that it wouldn't blow off. Not that that was likely, the broom maxed out at fifteen miles per hour and the wind was not gusting too hard. Harry turned to face his home for one last time, then turned the opposite direction and pushed the broom to its limits, wanting to get as far away as he could as fast as possible. Eventually Harry turned right slightly so that the wind was directly at his back, making the air blowing in his face a little more bearable. It was the time of year between summer and fall, where the leaves had just started to fall, and the ground was green with specks of golden. Harry held his wand, it was acting almost excited, and wanted him to change direction, a direction that would make him face the wind at a side angle. 'Tomorrow, after I'm far away from Mother and Father, I will go that way.' he thought, trying to tell his wand. Whether it heard him or not, it did not stop begging him to turn.

After a while, Harry saw the sun was setting, had it really been so long? A whole day had passed! It was likely that Mother and Father knew of his disappearance by now. Harry was pretty sure they couldn't locate him, not with magic anyway, as he had taken everything he ever considered a belonging with him. To anyone who didn't know, the attic of the Potter household was nothing but a neglected room, with a rotting sheetless bed in it. Deciding to rest, Harry spotted an alley between two muggle places, one Harry believed to be a restaurant. He leaned back on his broom, slowing it down and causing it to lower. No muggles were nearby so he wasn't too worried about being spotted. There was also a trash can, which Harry could bet had bunches of leftover food in. He ripped open the lid and grabbed a small roll of bread.

"Scourgify Esca" He whispered, holding his wand and using the food-freshening/cleaning charm.

He also cast a warming charm on himself and the roll. Then he carefully wedged himself between two dumpsters so he would be well hidden. Bringing the roll up to his mouth, he enjoyed the warm, chewy taste of it. Then he lay behind his trunk, curled up into a blanket. Being on his own wasn't that bad after all.

He was woken up by the sound of a car horn right by where he was sleeping. He grabbed his broom, blanket, and trunk and stood up. The sun was shining red on the horizon and dozens of muggles were starting to bustle about doing whatever they do. Harry reached up and put his hand through his hair in an attempt to fix his slight bedhead. He was in his pajamas, as he wasn't good enough to cast permanent transfigurations. Shoving his broomstick in his trunk and appreciating the light weight of it, he lifted it up and started to walk out of the alley. Immediately, muggles were staring at him with weird looks on their faces, some were worried, curious, and confused. Harry shrugged, it wasn't his problem. Then an especially odd looking muggle walked up to him, he had a sort-of suit on with an undershirt with toothbrushes (?) on it. He guided Harry out of the way of the majority of the muggles paths, then kneeled on one leg so he and Harry were eye-to-eye.

"I noticed that you were walking all alone, are you lost?" The man asked, "I'm Alexander Granger, I have a daughter just about your age, what's your name?" Mr. Granger asked kindly.

"I'm Harry, I'm not lost, but I don't know where I am," Harry told him, the man seemed trustable enough.

"Oh is that right? Well, Harry, where are your parents?" Mr. Granger asked.

"They're dead," Harry answered, silently adding a "to me" at the end.

Sympathy passed across Mr. Granger's face, "Harry, I think you should come with me, I can take you to some people who will take care of you," he told Harry.

"Where? Who?" Harry asked, it seemed like a wonderful prospect, going to this

place and getting new parents since his old ones didn't care. Sometimes muggle logic was in fact logical.

"An orphanage! I'm sure they'll love you! You do seem like an intelligent young man after all," Mr. Granger smiled warmly at Harry, "I can take your trunk for you if you like." Harry handed him his trunk, Mr. Granger was surprised at how light it was, poor boy probably didn't have very many possessions, who knows how long he'd been without parents.

While Mr. Granger was fretting about how Harry had survived, Harry was quite enjoying himself. Oh sure his wand had wanted him to go somewhere, but he wouldn't choose his wand over a family, a real family. He skipped along and repeatedly crashed into people. Some were annoyed, some were startled, and some just ignored him entirely. Not that it was his problem, he doubted they even had the power to do anything, magical or otherwise. Instead, he worried about how he'd get his magical education. Oh sure he'd likely get invited to Hogwarts, but Harry didn't want to be bored until then. All he had were a few books, well a lot of books, but how much could one really learn from books?

It turned out they weren't far from the orphanage as they got there in no time at all. Well at least that's what it felt like to Harry. The orphanage was a surprisingly different building from the rest although it seemed nice enough. It had spruce colored doors made out of some sort of metal or stone with big glass windows on them. The orphanage itself was absolutely covered in windows. It had a decent sized yard and a few cheery looking kids playing outside. The green was a stark contrast to the other buildings around it. held Harry's hand as he walked up to the doors of the orphanage. Harry pushed the door open and looked at the bright red carpets and golden lights. Harry was a tad disgusted by the colors as they reminded him of the Potter home, but all the same, they did have a welcoming feel. About twenty feet from the entrance stood a tanish-marble desk with a tall woman who looked to be just under six feet tall.

"Ah! Welcome, how can I help you?" she asked warmly.

"Well I found young Harry here and he seemed like he was lost, I told him I thought this would make a fine home for him," Mr. Granger avoided saying anything about Harry's parents, but Harry noticed the look he gave the woman.

Her eyes flashed with sympathy, "Oh, I see, do you have any papers? Birth certificates?" Mr. Granger shook his head, "Well, then you can get going and I'll take care of, Harry was it? I'm Mrs. Caren, but you can call me Leah," She took Harry's hand and thanked her and left.

"Um, Mrs. C- I mean Leah, do you think I could get a different name?" Harry asked, then came up with a reason, untrue of course, as the real reason was for no one to be able to find him, "I-it reminds me of Father… his name was Harold," he then added a gulp.

"Oh sure we can, I lost my parents too, when I was 15, it's the reason I started this orphanage, to help kids like myself. So, what do you want to be called?" She asked, she seemed hesitant, but thought she understood.

"How about Praet, short for Praeteritis?" Harry asked, she showed a flicker of surprise, but didn't seem to know what the word meant.

"Unique name, you can choose to keep your last name, or wait to get the last name of whoever adopts you," Mrs. Caren informed him.

"I'll just wait until I'm adopted," Harry told her. Inside, he knew he would never think of himself as Praet, probably due to magic. He had just noticed his trunk where Mr. Granger had left it.

"Okay, well then Praet, you can either go outside and meet the other boys, or you can go to your new home, room 13, go up the stairs to my right, you have a roommate who I think is your age, his name is Aidan, turning six soon, how old are you?" She informed him.

Then Harry was reminded it was his birthday, "five actually, today is my birthday," he responded.

"Happy Birthday Praet! Now I must be going, don't know what those girls and boys outside have been getting up to," Mrs. Caren joked.

Harry was left standing by himself, hoisting his trunk up into the air, he walked towards the stairway, he knew that he was going to be pushed into muggle education when summer ended, which was only a month away. There weren't too many stairs, so Harry was up them rather quickly, he then entered a hallway, it had doors on either side, counting up from left to right. He looked at the numbers on the left as he walked, one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, and thirteen. The door was unlocked, so he stepped in, there were three beds along the left side of the room with a dresser to each ones right. There was a single window at the far end, and the bed nearest to it was obviously taken. Harry set his trunk on the bed nearest to the door, leaving the middle bed open for whoever might end up there as well. Then he unlocked his trunk in the sequence that had all his stuff in it, and pulled out a book on wards. He wished he could do spells, but although he had a wand he wasn't old enough to cast the wards he found to hide magic usage..

After reading the instructions five times and staring at the picture for about a minute, Praet switched the book out for a more picture-filled book about magical creatures. Praet had read the book from cover to back at least five times, but he enjoyed it more each time, observing the moving pictures for the animal's behavior, reading every bit of information in the few words. His favorite animal was the basilisk, with deadly eyes and venom acidic enough to destroy almost any substance, magical or not. There was also the scale factor, a full grown basilisk could be over fifteen meters long, and its scales as hard as enchanted steel. After admiring the Basilisk as it lounged in a sunny part of the swamp it was in, Harry grudgingly put down the book and read about potions and herbology. They, along with the history of magic, were books that showed how to do things that required less practice and more memorization.

Suddenly the door slammed open and a light-brown haired boy with dark brown eyes burst in, laughing loudly. He stomped over to his bed, and only after being collapsed on it for at least a minute he turned and saw Harry, "Who're you?" he asked, eyes wide.

"I'm H-Praeteritis, you can call me Praet though, what's you're name?" Harry told him, ignoring the rather rude way Aidan, as Harry assumed the boy was, asked him.

"I'm Aidan! And I'm going into school soon!" Aidan exclaimed proudly, saying school scewel.

Harry inwardly sighed, he had really been hoping he wasn't mature for his age and that Griffith was just really immature, apparently not, "Interesting," Harry responded, then went back to reading about mandrakes. Luckily there was a charm that made it look like a muggle book to a muggle.

"You're a meany aren't you?" Aidan asked questioningly as Harry acted like he was ignoring him.

"Mhm," Harry responded without really paying attention.

"Hmph. Well I am going to go have fun with my friends," Aidan grumbled, "bet you don't have any."

Then he stomped out of the room without any more to say, the door slamming shut behind him. Harry shrugged and resumed reading, what an interesting plant, it would be dreadful if normal babies could knock people out by crying. To think that a plant could grow up to be able to kill someone just with its voice. Harry wished he could do that. Although wizards could kill with a well aimed spell, spells traveled slowly enough that they could be dodged. Harry wished he knew more about the killing curse, there would be so many times it would help him.

Harry went back to reading until Aidan came in telling him it was time for dinner, Harry bet he was forced to. After Aidan left with a loud bang of the door (That boy sure loved slamming doors) Harry reluctantly put his book back in his trunk and stepped out of the door. Then he realized he had absolutely no idea how to get to the dining hall, that could cause a… small problem. Opening the door, he set off down the hall and stairs to the lobby. Luckily, Mrs. Caren was there and he quickly found the dining hall. Dinner was surprisingly uneventful, other than a few boys teasing Harry, which he didn't really mind. Then Harry went to bed and fell asleep thinking about the new muggle clothes Mrs. Caren had promised to get him.

 **AN: Dang, gotta love that horizontal line though! I love it anyways. I have absolutely no idea what Hermione's dad's first name is so don't judge! I'm going to do a few chapters intro, also, I've only read five of the books in the Harry Potter series at this point so I may make a few mistakes, which I may or may not go back and correct after finishing the series. Please follow, favorite, and comment for more content! For now all I will demand for posting the next chapter is one review which I can probably make one of my friends do, but in the future… *cackles evilly*. Also, I hope that review can give me some ideas for a good title for the story, or just tell me the title I have is good.**

 **See all you blubber-ducks later!**

 **Peace! -Ariana Flynn Riddle/Lestrange (Should I be a Riddle or Lestrange? I may or may not add an OC of myself in the story, whom will have to be a Lestrange, and then I thought maybe I should be a Lestrange. :)**


	2. A Knock at the Door

**AN: Hey Blubber-Ducks! I think this nickname for my readers is starting to catch on in my mind! Follow, Favorite, and Review if you agree! And if you disagree, give a recommendation! To stop any confusion about Harry's name, Praet is a name he goes by, but magic doesn't know he changed his name and influences him and others to think of him by that name, I know Praeteritis translates to past (Or so google translate says) but I'm using it as forgotten. And because I'm on a strict no-editing basis, I can tell you quite honestly I'm pretty sure the chapter will end with something happening… but I'm not certain. To the the story then! Wait, also, I know nothing about official paper signing and stuff for orphanages so don't hold me credible for anything I say!**

Harry groaned, it was nearing his third month at the orphanage and he had started going to school, muggle school. He jumped out of bed when he remembered that supposedly a married couple were coming to look for a kid to adopt, a kid that was five or six years old. It made him excited, to say the least, not that he didn't enjoy the orphanage, it was just so boring. Quickly switching his pajamas out for jeans and a call T-shirt, he jumped out of bed and tumbled down the stairs. He glanced at the huge clock, 7:30, breakfast should just have been served. The couple would be coming at 8:00.

The mess hall already had around half the orphans in it, although that consisted mainly of the eight through twelve year olds. Harry was before the majority of the five and six year olds. He deftly weaved between the other orphans so that he could get to eat. Then, after grabbing a tray he waited in line like everyone else. After ten long, drawn out minutes, Harry was sitting down at an empty table. He wasn't lonely though, he just didn't want any friends, no one here was magical like he was. He looked down at his plate distastefully, on it was a very dark piece of toast that was covered in black seeds as long as the width of Harry's pinky. There was also a plastic butter knife, a container of butter, a carton of milk, and a pile of scrambled eggs that taste like scrambled rubber. Opening the milk carton, Harry jugged it down and then proceeded to throw away the rest of his food.

After sitting back down, Harry glanced at the clock, 7:50. Might as well just go to where they would be meeting the grown-ups. With that thought, Harry stood up again and headed slowly towards the front entrance. Only a moment after getting there, a young looking couple opened the doors. The woman had light brown soft looking hair and dull-colored blue-green eyes, her clothes consisted of jeans and a plain skyblue shirt. The man was slightly chubby with extremely flat black hair that was short strands that reached about an inch bellow his ear. He had lightish brown eyes and a business suit which made him seem super serious and slightly scary. Harry perked up at the sight of them, putting on a fake smile and attempting to flatten his hair. Only a few of the others had turned up, including Aidan, ugh.

The couple seemed to be particularly interested in Aidan. Seeing this, Harry sneakily pushed nearer to the front, and near Aidan. He knew that Aidan hated him and wouldn't be able to handle it. So, as predicted, Aidan proceeded to scowl and pushed him onto the floor. The couple saw this, then gasped and glared at Aidan before the woman launched forward to help Harry up. Harry immediately acted weak, and shivered, looking at Aidan with falsified fear in his eyes. Aidan was confused for a second until he realized the attention wasn't on him anymore. When the couple wasn't looking, Harry flashed him a smirk, Mrs. Caren saw it and gasped at the cold glee in his eyes. Then, finally, Harry looked at the woman in the couple, making sure to let his false emotions reach his eyes.

"A-are you here to save me?" he asked, stuttering slightly.

The woman paused for a second, then decided, "Yes, yes we are, come on, we'll let you out of here," she then glared at Mrs. Caren, "Papers please?" she asked, and Mrs. Caren handed her the papers. Mrs. Caren opened her mouth to speak, but the woman was already leading Harry out the door, "What's your name? I'm Mrs. Heron, but you can call me mom."

"I'm Praet," Harry sniffed, "Thanks, by the way. They aren't the nicest," he told her, before swallowing. He internally gave himself a point for completely fooling her.

"Don't worry, you won't ever have to go back to that place, me and my husband will make sure of that," she smiled, wrapping an arm around him as she opened the back door of their gray car.

He got in, then she went in the front, her husband was driving. Harry already had his trunk with him, so he simply unlocked it and pulled out a book that was for wizards who were around muggles a lot. It was a storybook, but the story had mythical creatures that it described in great detail. Harry had absolutely no idea why his brother had gotten this book since he rarely was around anyone except his birth mother, birth father, stepfather, Harry, and Remus. He shrugged, his parents were always a bit obsessed with muggles and simply loved them. Harry didn't really love them, he read plenty of books about them, and most of their wars were about stupid things like land. Wizards usually had wars in which each and every wizard was free to choose their side, while muggles usually determined which side of a war on where they lived! Really, Harry didn't know why he'd tried to get adopted. He only really had one path he knew he could follow, Dark Arts.

He was too upset with how unjust his birth parents were, and they were supposedly the lightest you could get. Harry could never be a muggle, and Light seemed not to be the way for him. There wasn't a good and evil, not that Harry could see. All that really mattered was the power one had, over others and himself. What should he expect from these muggles then? A home? Privacy? Did he want to get them to drop him off in Diagon Alley? Sighing, Harry went back to reading his book. Suddenly the car he was riding in came to a jarring stop, ugh, what is it with these muggle carriages, they were annoying and pathetic. He leaned forward, only to be slammed back into his seat as the car started moving forward again. ARRRGGHHH, Harry mentally screamed, he was honestly going to kill these stupid muggles first chance he got. Now he also felt like he was going to throw up.

After what felt like days but was really like half an hour, they arrived at a tall apartment building. Mr. Heron grabbed Harry's trunk, the feather light charm canceling immediately, making it feel at least moderately heavy. Then they headed into the building, Harry was moderately surprised they held it up without magic. He wasn't too impressed though, any decent wizard could make a building like it easily enough, even if they were extremely weak, as long as they had enough money. The inside was extremely white, with marble walls, a sort of bumpy looking painted white ceiling, and a light cream carpet. Harry blinked repeatedly, following Mrs. Heron and Mr. Heron. The elevator reminded Harry of the entrance to the Ministry of Magic, which he got to go to once when James got an urgent Auror call and decided to take an alternate way down with Harry. He scowled, remembering how James had forgotten him there until finally someone at the office flooed him at midnight, having left Harry there for almost 14 hours.

The Heron apartment was actually pretty nice. It had two bathrooms, each with showers, one connected to the master bedroom. There was a room already prepared for Harry, it was extremely childish though. He supposed it was for a normal five year old, but Harry knew he wasn't normal, not for a wizard nor a muggle. He'd talk with his new 'parents' about it. Harry chuckled at the word. He'd changed a lot over the last three months, and really over the course of that day. He'd realized that his parents hadn't treated him fairly, and that if he ever wanted something, he had to take it and guard it, because no one was ever really just what they said they were. No one had ever been honest to Harry, so he wouldn't be honest to them, simple as that. Mr. Heron left for work, while Mrs. Heron stayed to help Harry settle in. She soon found Harry had nothing to unpack, so she left him to goof off in his room. Not that Harry really goofed off. He'd figured out recently that as long as the magic he casted was sparse, it would simply be thought of as accidental. He didn't do any yet, he was tempted to try a cutting curse, Lacero, on his adopted parents, and if he did any magic before then he'd have to wait.

Instead, Harry pulled out the only book he had that had any dark spells on it and read. It was a huge book, and went over a ton of curses, but it never really explained how to cast them, as much what they could do. how 'horrible' they were, and how to defend against them. Of course, Harry was reading the book to learn about how to cast them, not defend against them. He always memorized spells by casting them silently, it was a good habit and added extra challenge. He always did spells for a reason though, and because he needed results and also didn't want to cast any more spells than he could he sticked to spell areas he was good at. This was another reason Harry liked to practice the dark arts, he was naturally very talented at them, usually getting beginners curses on the first or second try, and moderate ones after three to five tries. Lacero was moderate, but Harry doubted Mr. or Mrs. Heron would expect anything even if they caught him waving his wand under the table. After all, magic wasn't real, right?

Harry closely examined his room, his bed was barely long enough for him to lay straight, but he was quite a bit tall for his age, standing at roughly four feet tall. It had covers that were a baby-blue color, and the walls were dark blue with star-shapes on them, fake planets, some muggle machine looking things, and some sort of green goblin or something. Lastly, the floor was the same cream color as the carpet outside. The only things in the room other than the bed were the ceiling light and the dresser. The room as a whole reminded Harry of a room for a one or two year old. It was disgusting.

After Harry was done with his assessment of the room, he thought over some of the things that happened at the orphanage. He'd learned that he could talk to snakes, which was a very interesting talent. He believed it was called parseltongue, although none of the books he had mentioned it at all. What use was being able to talk to snakes really? Well, other than the fact he could also talk to basilisks. Talking to a basilisk was doomed to end badly though, as merely looking into its eyes through a reflection could paralyze you, while looking directly into them killed you. Harry did have his doubts as to if he would be affected by a basilisk's eyes, but he was reluctant to test it out.

Eventually, Mrs. Heron knocked on his door and told him it was time for lunch. Finally! Harry thought, he was getting really bored. As he walked into the dining area (Which was near the front entrance) he made sure to have his wand, he wasn't planning on casting the curse yet, but better safe than sorry. On the table various snacks were stacked, peanut butter, crackers, jam, bread, chips, milk, juice, water, apples, oranges, and more. It seemed that his adopted mother had really overdone herself. Internally smirking, Harry smiled at her, thanked her for the food, then dug in.

First, he grabbed a graham cracker, cracked it in half perfectly, then started to put peanut butter on it. Being the perfectionist he was, he first made it so that the peanut butter covered the entirety of the cracker slightly leaking over the sides. Then he carefully held the butterknife he had spread it with vertically so that only the the blade was along the side of the cracker. Sliding the knife along the edge, the cracker now had roughly a half a centimeter of peanut butter exactly over the whole cracker.

Suddenly, Harry heard a loud crash somewhere down the hall, and a shout, of anger or shock, Harry couldn't tell. Shrugging, he passed it off as some kid or adult crashing into a wall because muggles were idiots. He then bit into his cracker, relishing the sweet and salty taste. There was a knock at the door. Harry tensed a bit more, reaching for his wand. There was another knock, Mrs. Heron got up to answer the door. By now, Harry had his wand firmly grasped in his hand and he was ready to jump up at a moments notice. Mrs. Heron reached for the doorknob, Harry slightly lifted himself from his seat. His mind was telling him he was being irrational, but his body wouldn't listen.

The door opened, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a madly grinning man, if he even was a man. His eyes were the color of blood, and his skin a pale almost blue color. If he didn't know better, Harry would have thought he was a vampire. Harry knew though, he knew that this mix between man and monster, with dark brown hair that seemed to hint he was handsome once, this man was none other than the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Harry took a fraction of a second to fly out of his chair to face Voldemort, wand raised, "Lacero!" Harry shouted, watching as the decently dark spell flew directly towards Voldemort's chest. Sadly, Voldemort simply stepped aside.

Harry looked into Voldemort's eyes and found a flicker of surprise in the, before it was covered, "Harry Potter?" the Dark Lord sneered, "Might I ask why you are here instead of with your pathetic light parents?"

Mrs. Heron looked between the Dark Lord and Harry, then simply fainted, "Well that was pathetic," Harry commented, looking at her. Really he was just trying to find something to focus on other than the extremely powerful and possibly life-threatening Dark Lord in front of him.

" _Crucio_ " The Dark Lord said, obviously annoyed how Harry had refused to answer his question.

Immediately, Harry crumbled to the floor. The torturing curse made it feel like every muscle in his body was being strained, every nerve pushed to the extreme. Harry knew he was biting his lip, but it didn't hurt, so he didn't really notice the salty tang of blood leaking into his mouth. After what felt like eons to Harry, he finally let out an ear-piercing scream, unleashing a wave of accidental magic that was impossible for any average wizard child his age. The table flipped so that it slammed into the wall. The door snapped off its hinges, and a few floorboards close to Harry were ripped apart. Though the Dark Lord was fine, the accidental magic cancelled the curse.

"I… I left them," Harry gasped, responding to Voldemort's earlier question, "They didn't care about me… They didn't even notice me!" Harry snarled at the last bit, regaining his composure.

"Hmph, not a very light thing for those 'followers of light' to do hm?" Voldemort said speculatively, "What a waste, the idiots couldn't see potential if it turned into a Basilisk and killed their entire family," he snorted.

Harry looked up, "Potential?" he asked.

"Yes, potential, brat, ever heard of the word? As I was saying, you do have potential to be a rather good wizard," the Dark Lord told him, 'how would I go about recruiting this boy without raising suspicion?'

"I have potential? Potential to be better than my brother? To prove to him and my parents I'm better than he could ever be?" Harry asked, imagining the looks of horror on his family's faces if they saw him, clad in dark robes.

"Yes, but that is only potential. Brat, if you were to come with me, you could reach the limits of your potential, turning it into something much better, power," the Dark Lord informed him, 'Step one, complete. This boy is young, young enough to be manipulated, enough to become the perfect heir, initiate step two.' He thought, smiling a devil's smile in his mind.

Harry's eyes brightened, reminding the Dark Lord of his second favorite curse, the killing curse, in action, "Can I? Power would allow me to get revenge on my brother and family," he started.

"I suppose I could, but there would be conditions," Voldemort started, internally grinning as Harry nodded eagerly, "First, you would pose as my heir, which wouldn't be too hard because magic has already accepted me as your parent," Harry gasped in shock, at both the posing as his heir and Voldemort being magically accepted as his parent. "Second, you would pledge your loyalty to me, getting your own special version of the dark mark," Harry nodded, having overcome the shock from before. "Third, you wouldn't show any death eater of your existence until they figure it out themselves, this would add to you being my son incase anyone grew suspicious of your younger years. Lastly, you would magically accept me as your magical guardian, this combined with you being my magical son would be enough to alter your appearance enough so that no one would recognize you as Harry Potter. This also requires a change of name, although magic will recognize you as Harry James Riddle. Understood?" Voldemort demanded.

Harry nodded eagerly, 'watch out Griffith' he thought 'When I come for you, there won't be anything left over for anyone to bury.'

-= At Hogwarts =-

"Ah, Professor Trelawney, you said you wanted to see me about a student?" Albus Dumbledore asked as the Divination Professor stepped into the room.

"Yes, see this boy in my class well he wa-" Trelawney started, before suddenly her eyes rolled back, showing only their whites and she went rigid.

" _The Dark Lord arises_

 _Eyes of Death and_

 _Soul of black,_

 _he seeks revenge from those who wronged him,_

 _The Dark Lord arises"_ She ended in a whisper, before suddenly relaxing, "Sorry about that Headmaster, I think I've been a bit short on sleep lately," she paused for a moment, "I seem to have forgotten what I was going to say, well I guess I better be going then."

 **AN Yeah! Yes, I know I went to Harry meeting Voldie pretty quickly, but the next few chapters are really more of an outline of the beginning of Harry's life, I'm going to slow down as I get farther in. Also, that reasoning for Harry's fake name is that he wanted to basically cut all ties with his family, and the name choice was because he always felt forgotten by his parents. Anyways, now that I know at least one person reads my story, and a lot more people than I expected followed/favorited it, I won't be requiring anything before I update. I will try to update as often as possible with 3k+ chapters.**


	3. The Dark Lord's Son

**AN Hello! Back with chapter three, once again, thanks for all the support, I'm absolutely shocked at how many Follows/Favorites I have already! To answer the two questions I got, first, yes and no, Voldemort only magically adopts Harry, that means that Voldemort is his parent hence Harry being Harry Riddle. Harry just doesn't go by the name Harry anymore, but, on say the Marauders Map, Harry would appear as Harry Riddle or Harry James Riddle even though he goes by Praet Riddle. That's another thing, any recommendations for a middle name? Now for the second question, length. Honestly I have no idea, I'm aiming for being around 20k or so in when Harry starts Hogwarts but other than that I'm not really sure…. And that brings me to that last thing I'm going to talk about, the way I'm going through Harry's life up until Hogwarts is likely to be the longer major events, although the timeline won't go anywhere except forwards. Anyways, to the story now!**

A soft knock was heard at the door over the loud thundering of the rain. 'I wonder who would be out in weather like this?' Alice thought as she walked toward the door. Frank and Neville had already gone to sleep and she was reading on runes by the fire. Gripping the handle, she pulled the door open, immediately getting a gush of rain and wind in her face. Squinting, she didn't see anyone until she looked down. In front of her stood a little boy who could be no older than six, right about her son's age. He was extremely skinny, had a cut on his face, and was wearing a robe many sizes too big for him with holes.

"Oh my! Come in, come in," She said, grabbing him gently as she pulled him indoors and shut the door, seeing the boy was shivering, she let him sit down by the fire.

'This is too easy' Harry thought as his target, Alice Longbottom, pulled him inside and ran off, likely to make him a warm drink and hopefully alert her husband. It'd been around five months since Harry started learning from Voldemort. None of the Death Eaters knew Harry existed, and there was no dark mark on his arm. Instead, Harry had a huge animated dark mark covering the majority of his chest. This was Harry's first task, his job was to hopefully get both, or at least one, of the Longbottom adults to touch his cloak as he said the activation words for the portkey. Then he would be transported back to Riddle Manor where he could either kill them himself or give them to the Dark Lord.

Moments later, Alice entered the room with a steaming cup of tea, "There dear, I'll go get my husband and we'll get you home, that sound good?" She asked sweetly. Harry nodded meekly, as though he didn't have a voice to speak with.

Then she exited the room walking rather quickly. Harry sighed, looking into the flames and resisting the urge to fidget. Who knew that trying to fool someone into trusting you was so boring! Ugh, if he'd known how boring it would have been, he would have asked to go on a raid disguised as a Death Eater. His training had gone rather well, he wasn't allowed to practice the unforgivables yet because apparently they made the caster become crazy and keep using them to the point of magical exhaustion or something. He had learned more curses though, such as Incendio and Sectumsempra. Also, he'd learned he was extremely good at silently casting, to the point his spells were the same strength no matter if he said the incantation out loud or not. He glanced at the clock, it was 9pm, so Harry had been a tad shocked when he found out both Mr. Longbottom and his son had already gone to bed.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if this kid is abused or if he's been lost for awhile, but the poor dear looked miserable so I just had to let him in," Harry heard Mrs. Longbottom say to Mr. Longbottom as the walked into the room.

Quickly, Harry plastered a somewhat cold and mainly frightened look on his face. He shivered a little and waited for them to sit down. He wiped his cheek, which was still soaked with water and cupped the warm tea in his hands. Taking a sip, he looked at Mrs. Longbottom with wide scared eyes.

"I-I should probably go home," Harry said with a gulp added. "M-mum is gonna be m-mad enough that I didn't get her those a-ashwinder eggs," He added, listing the dangerous snake. Then he looked down at the floor, somewhat hunching his shoulders.

"Ashwinder eggs? We could help take you down to Diagon Alley before we get you home," Mr. Longbottom told Harry.

"N-no! I-I was supposed to f-find them," Harry said, fidgeting a little, "I-in the woods, but I g-got lost," Harry glanced up into Mr. and Mrs. Longbottoms shocked faces. The Dark Lord told him that stuttering always made acting seem less suspicious, paranoia also helped.

"Oh-oh my! My name's Alice and this is my husband Frank, what's your name?" Mrs. Longbottom asked.

"I'm J-James" Harry looked, letting a little spark of his pleasure at fooling them escape through his eyes. Hopefully they assumed Harry was hoping to stay with them.

"That's a beautiful name, now who're you're parents?" Alice asked him, right then, a thump was heard on the stairs.

"Mum, who is that?" a boy asked, half walking half tumbling down that stairs. The boy had wide eyes, somewhat fluffy but otherwise tame brown hair, a chubby face, and a few freckles.

"I-I'm James," Harry told him, smiling a tad.

Mrs. Longbottom kneeled in front of Harry, "How about you stay here for the night James? Then we can take you home in the morning," she asked him.

Harry grinned as wide as he could fake a sincere smile, "Y-yeah! That would be great!" He exclaimed, bouncing on his feet. Now everyone was smiling. Inwardly smirking, Harry ran over to the boy, "W-what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Neville!" Neville told him, puffing out his chest. Harry sighed inwardly, what kind of person was proud of their NAME of all things? Ugh, he better just get going.

"O-okay Neville, want to see a m-magic trick?" Harry asked softly so only Neville could hear him. Neville nodded excitedly, Harry looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, they were standing close enough for him to touch both of them.

He ran over to them, pulling them into a big hug, " _Gone!"_ Harry hissed in parseltongue, the portkey activating at the words, pulling him and the Longbottoms to Riddle Manor.

Immediately they both fell down, involuntary portkeying was always worse for those pulled along. Instants later, they were standing up, wands out, looking around crazily. Mr. Longbottom's gaze fell on the location where the Dark Lord was standing.

"What happened?" Mrs. Longbottom asked.

"Simple, I brought you to my father, Alice, meet Voldemort," Harry smirked. Mr. Longbottom, being a little less trusting, turned and pointed his wand at Harry. Harry raised his wand and cast a silent expelliarmus, ripping Mr. Longbottom's wand out of his hands and onto the floor near Voldemort.

Mrs. Longbottom was still in a bit of a shock, "Wait, Voldemort is alive and James is his son?" She asks, eyes wide.

Mr. Longbottom was glaring at Voldemort as he picked up his wand, snapping it with his hands, "Alice, watch out, Dark Lord jr. casts silent spells," he growled.

" _Crucio"_ the Dark Lord said, point at Alice Longbottom, immediately she crashed onto the floor, screaming.

Harry looked in interest, this was the first time he'd ever done a job for the Dark Lord, and it was extremely pleasing to see it had gone so well. Leaning down, he pulled her wand out of her hands, snapping it as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mr. Longbottom charging towards him in a very muggle-level stupid way. Harry flicked his wand, blasting Mr. Longbottom into the wall. Not hard enough to permanently damage him, but hard enough that he'd have a nasty bruise later, if he lived that long. Harry cast a weak Incendio at , just enough that his upper robes caught fire, giving him something between first and second degree burns. Watching with pleasure, Harry saw as the power he had over Mr. Longbottom came into effect.

"You're going to hell devil spawn," Mr. Longbottom growled, obviously in pain, " _Stupefy_ "

he wandlessly cast a weak and slow stunner at Harry.

Harry easily sidestepped the spell, Mrs. Longbottom's screams had lessened to more of a rasping silent cry as her voice died. The Dark Lord canceled the Cruciatus. Mrs. Longbottom stayed on the ground for a moment, then crawled/slided towards the reddened burnt form of Mr. Longbottom. Looking at her, Harry cast a Lacero at her right leg, watching as the flesh ripped itself in half in a jagged-looking cut. Then he cast a sectumsempra at Mr. Longbottom, drawing a single deep slash across his chest. Mr. Longbottom gasped for a few moments, then died.

"Woops," Harry said, torture wasn't really his thing.

"Frank…" Alice rasped, reaching out to her husband, hand soaking with blood, she turned and glared at Harry, "You, you killed him!" she somehow managed to scream.

Rolling his eyes, Harry turned and looked at the Dark Lord, he nodded. Smirking, Harry sent a sectumsempra at Mrs. Longbottom, carving a Dark Mark into her chest. Then she died too. Harry sighed, that took way too little time. He definitely would like battle more than that. Maybe assassination would be more fun too. Laughing inwardly at himself, Harry thought about how a few months ago he never would've dreamed hurting people could cause much pleasure. He'd been working on his apparation, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Luckily though, Harry never half-apparated, it was always all or nothing.

Harry turned to the Dark Lord, "Should we give them to the Order?" he asked, tilting his head towards the Longbottoms dead forms, "Or maybe the ministry?"

"Order, if they go to the Ministry it might become well known that I'm still alive, the Order already suspects," the Dark Lord told him.

Harry nodded, successfully apparating to the outside of the Potter household. Then he carefully levitated their bodies to the door, then lastly he sent a small but direct blasting curse at the door, not strong enough to break it, but making a loud bang. Then, mission done, Harry apparated away.

-=Later, OotF Headquarters=-

"So you found them this way?" Alastor Moody asked as he looked over Alice and Frank's bodies.

"Y-yeah, they were laying out by the door, someone cast a soft blasting curse at the door and we came there and saw them laying there. Their bodies weren't completely cold yet, although Frank was burning hot from some burning curse on him," Lily told him, James had an arm over her shoulder, knowing how close Alice and Lily had been.

"Curious, Remus told Neville right?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, and you won't believe what I found out," Remus exclaimed, obviously a tad shocked at whatever he'd learned from Neville.

"What is it?" James asked.

"Well apparently a boy named James visited their house right before they disappeared. The boy had black hair and green eyes, and was extremely skinny, wearing loose robes, and had a cut on his face. This is where it gets strange, this boy, James, walked up to Neville, and asked if he wanted to see a trick. Then he ran up to Frank and Alice, hugged them, hissed something, then they all disappeared," Remus informed them.

"I don't know what that sounds like to you, but it seems like a portkey. This boy is not all he seems, I recommend we keep CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody exclaimed.

"What're you saying?" Lily asked.

"He's saying, that this boy is definitely dangerous and probably some Death Eater's son. Not to be trusted," Remus told them.

"This boy must be powerful, Severus, do you know of any missions lately going around killing the Longbottoms?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, the Dark Lord has said nothing of any missions, if I knew of this, I would have told you," Snape ground out.

"What does that mean then?" Lily asked.

"That means that this mission must've been done by the Dark Lord himself, and this boy, because as one of the inner circle, Severus would have heard about it otherwise. Why this boy though? Who's son is he?" Remus added.

"The bodies, there wa only one crucio cast, on Alice, for a long period of time, other than that, the only spells cast were easy or moderate level Dark Spells, as well as an expelliarmus. We all know that the Dark Lord would never not crucio both, so it's highly likely this boy, helped," Alastor told them.

"So that brings the question up again, who is this boy?" Dumbledore asked them.

"There is one idea that makes sense, although it is absurd. If the Dark Lord had a son, I doubt he'd trust even his inner circle with the knowledge," Severus growled.

"A son! That's crazy! Who would the mother be? It couldn't be Bellatrix, everyone knows she can't have children!" James exclaimed, "It's probably just some Death Eater's son Snivellus."

"Well do you have a better explanation?" Snape growled.

"I think we should keep Severus's idea in mind unless we find evidence proving otherwise," Dumbledore told them.

After a long silence James said, "So… a son."

"I'll tell the other Order Members to watch out for a green eyed black haired boy," Dumbledore added, "Meeting dismissed."

 **AN So what happened to me doing 3k chapters? I just didn't know what else to add to this chapter, it was mainly centered around Harry becoming known by the Order and getting his first kills. Next chapter is Christmas! Harry will be six years and four months-ish old. Yeah! Nothing else to really add to this note, so please follow, favorite, and review for more!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	4. Blood Bonds

**AN Hello! Yeah! Back with chapter 4! Hopefully this chapter will be actually 3k words. It's mainly centered around the first christmas Harry celebrates with Voldemort… although it's going to actually be more important the present he gets. Thanks to oleg212 who corrected me when I accidentally posted chapter 2 again instead of chapter 3. Anyways, to the story!**

" _Good morning hatchling"_ Nagini hissed as she slithered into Harry's room at 7am in the morning.

 _"G'morning Nagini"_ Harry greeted politely. He quickly got dressed. Only after being halfway down the stairs he remembered that it was Christmas! In honor of how well Harry had been doing on the few missions he'd gone on, almost all of them like the Alice and Frank mission, he was getting a single present from the Dark Lord. They were on Order members, a few glamours made Harry look slightly different. Sometimes Harry just got to surprise people, instead of playing cute little boy. Recently though, he'd had to do more and more by force, as people started to not trust him. Likely the Order knew of his existence by now, though he wasn't sure whether they knew of his position as the Dark Lord's son. Probably at least suspected it.

Walking into the kitchen, Harry saw a high stack of pancakes and thick syrup made by the House Elves. They were all terrified of the Dark Lord so they never did anything out of line. Or anything less that perfect, Harry noted as he noticed the eggs, sausage, and bacon. There were also bunches of different kinds of berries and jams on the table. Rolling his eyes, Harry grabbed a chocolate chip pancake, then set it on a plate charmed to keep the food on it moderately warm. Then he grabbed the syrup and some sugared sliced strawberries, putting them on the pancake.

Three pancakes, two cups of juice, and a huge sausage later, Harry left the table, " _Nagini? Where did the Dark Lord put my present?"_ he hissed loudly in parseltongue, he wasn't sure where she was, but was pretty sure she would be able to hear him. Then she slithered into view.

If a snake could roll her eyes, Harry bet she would. He and Nagini were sort of like friends to an extent. He respected her, she respected him. She was also supposedly his babysitter, really she just made sure he didn't blow anything up, " _You're present is by the fireplace."_

Harry immediately dashed towards the living room, " _Thanks Nagini!"_ he said as he left. He ran into the room, sitting by the fire was a round light brown colored object. It was a bit larger than Harry's head. Picking it up Harry examined it closer, unless he was wrong, it was a hungarian horntail egg! The Dark Lord was going to trust him to raise a dragon?

Suddenly, Harry saw the fire brighten up, turning green and dispensing a man, The man had long greasy-black hair, and a long nose and grumpy-looking face. Harry looked at his arm and saw a dark mark. What was a Death Eater doing here? The only ones who knew the name the Dark Lord used for his floo was his Inner Circle and Harry. The man hadn't noticed Harry yet, so Harry quickly disguised his surprise beneath a cold mask, pulled out his wand, and hid the egg.

The man had (finally) noticed Harry standing there glaring at him, "Who're you?" the man snapped. Harry rolled his eyes, if this man knew, he wouldn't be so snappy. Harry smirked at him. Harry noticed Nagini coming into the room.

" _Oh… that'ssss not good… Harry, that is Severus Snape, guess you had to end up meeting someone in the Inner Circle at some point."_ Nagini hissed.

"Hello, Severus Snape," Harry said, he knew that Severus was a master legilimens. Luckily, the Dark Lord had taught Harry occlumency himself, so even looking into Severus's eyes he knew he couldn't read his mind.

Severus inwardly shivered, the boy in front of him was undoubtedly the one who had been murdering so many Order members. Looking into his eyes, Severus found strong occlumency barriers. The boy's eyes were the exact same color as the killing curse, and his hair was about as long as the Dark Lord's. His hair was slightly messy, and was like a void, it was wispy and didn't shine at all in the light. Severus had no doubt this boy was the Dark Lord's son now. Other than the fact the boy was in the Dark Lord's manor, he also resembled the Dark Lord greatly.

"How do you know my name?" Severus asked. Then he immediately realized how stupid that was, if the boy hadn't know his name before, he was pretty sure Nagini had told the boy. After all, the Dark Lord was a parseltongue, so why wouldn't his son be?

"Nagini told me," the boy said, "Are you looking for my father?" he asked.

Severus noted the wand held in the boy's hand, it was obvious the boy was adept with using it as well, "Yes, I just came to tell him that the large cage he ordered to have built in the forest was done."

"Sweet!" The boy exclaimed, smiling, "Uh, I mean, good," the boy corrected himself, reminding Severus that while he was the Dark Lord's son, he was still likely only about six.

"Well, I'll be going now, be sure to tell him," Serverus said awkwardly, stepping back into the fire.

" _Well that was interesting,"_ Harry told Nagini, " _I should probably tell the Dark Lord that happened shouldn't I?"_

"Tell me what happened?" The Dark Lord asked, he'd just gotten back from punishing one of the Outer Circle Death Eaters.

Harry looked at him, "While I was looking at my egg, one of your Inner Circle Death Eaters flooed in, Severus Snape. He told me to tell you that the cage you ordered to be built in the forest was complete," Harry told him, hopefully the Dark Lord wouldn't be too upset. Anyways, it might be better if the Inner Circle found out about him anyways.

"Well, it was bound to happen, tomorrow we'll reveal you to the rest of the Inner Circle, you're egg should hatch either today or tomorrow as well. For the dragon, it will be entirely your responsibility. If it causes any damage to this house that you do not repair it's dead. Understand?" the Dark Lord warned.

"Yes sir," Harry agreed, then he ran off to his room again. He'd also gotten a day off of lessons for Christmas, so he wasn't sure what to do, since normally he had something he should have been doing.

Setting his egg on the bed, he cast a decently strong heating charm on it. Then he pulled out a book on wards. Apparently there was a type of magic you could learn to avoid wards, but it had to be imprinted on a still developing magical core, luckily, that's exactly what Harry had. It made it so you simply didn't exist to the wards. Eh, why not! Harry decided. The book said that the technique was rarely used and side effects were possible, although none had been proved to happen before. All it required was a cut and casting a spell while his wand was partially inside the cut. The incantation was Torris Furtivus. Harry glanced at the egg, he had enough time. 'Parva Sectis' He thought, pointing to his hand. A tiny cut appeared, just big enough for the tip of his wand. Wincing slightly, Harry pushed his wand into the cut, his instincts screaming at him to pull it out. It was in about a cm when Harry decided it was deep enough.

" _Torris Furtivus"_ Harry said, watching as the tip of his wand glowed suddenly a burning sensation burst into his arm, gasping, Harry dropped his wand. Luckily, the spell was already active. The burning sensation spread throughout his whole body, reminding Harry of the Cruciatus, which the Dark Lord had used on him once when he was being rude, and of course when he used it when they first met. Quickly, Harry grabbed his wand, casting the best silencing spell he could.

When the book said the pain was extreme, Harry had assumed it couldn't be worse than the cruciatus, but it had long since passed that amount. Harry knew he'd need a potion to fix his vocal cords. It felt like days had passed, all Harry knew was pain, a burning extreme. Luckily, the book said the magic coursing through his blood protected him from going insane. Eventually, Harry fainted.

 _Splash!_ Harry sat up quickly, the Dark Lord was standing over him, wand raised, an annoyed look on his face, "Uhm, hi?" Harry said weakly, his voice still a bit weak.

"What'd you do?" the Dark Lord asked, raising an eyebrow at Harry's cut hand and blood-tipped wand. Oh and also at his glowing eyes, which pretty much finished the whole looks-like-the-killing-curse thing.

"I, uh, I read in a ward book about a ritual that would make wards directed against individuals useless against me, it said pain was involved, it hurt a bit," Harry told him. He really hoped the Dark Lord didn't Cruciatus him, though he was certain he would and that it wouldn't hurt at all compared to what he'd just experienced.

"Well that's interesting, and you know that I'm going to punish you for doing something stupid again," the Dark Lord told him, with a quick time check, Harry realized he was supposed to be meeting the Inner Circle soon. Harry nodded, " _Crucio!"_ Voldemort said.

Harry didn't even try to scream, he just stood there as he felt the pain wracked through his body, the only way one could tell he was in pain was his eyes and slightly tensed form. the Dark Lord raised an eyebrow, Harry barely even seemed bothered by one of the most powerful known torture curses. After at least ten minutes of them simply standing there, the Dark Lord canceled the curse.

"Get dressed, we're leaving in ten minutes," he told Harry. Harry nodded.

The Dark Lord obviously knew the book and the ritual Harry had done, he just hadn't realized some of the side effects it seemed to have. He pulled out the floo powder by the fire, waiting for Harry to come down. He had decided that Harry would simply be referred to as the Dark Prince or the Dark Assassin.

Eventually, Harry came down in a black cloak. The Dark Lord grabbed a handful of floo powder, and handed Harry the black goblet holding the floo powder and a silver mask. The silver mask had a cold expression, with a small barely noticeable smirk. Harry's eyes glowed underneath the mask, making the look a lot more frightening. Then the Dark Lord stepped into the fireplace, shouting their destination. Harry soon followed.

They both stepped out of the floo calmly as if it didn't feel like they'd just been shot out of a cannon. Harry looked around. To the right, he saw a moderately tall Death Eater standing by the door. A little bit of pale blonde hair could be seen on the side of his or her face. Harry guessed it was a he, because the Dark Lord said Bellatrix was his only female Inner Circle member. The man didn't look like he was too surprised to see them. He immediately kneeled when he saw the Dark Lord.

"Rise, alert the others of the Inner Circle of my arrival," The Dark Lord ordered.

"Yes my Lord," the Death Eater said, disapparating away.

A few minutes later five Death Eaters appeared, one being the one that was there before, they immediately kneeled. Harry made note that Severus Snape was among them, and he saw a woman whom he assumed to be Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Rise, I have called you because I have decided it is time to introduce you to my son. He is my heir and will be treated with the same respect as I, he is the Dark Prince," the Dark Lord put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

They both knew that it would be better if they were thought of as a family although Harry was more of a very loyal Death Eater. Harry had only known the Dark Lord for around a year but he was already completely loyal to him. Harry would do anything to serve, short of killing himself. That also set Harry apart, he wasn't a leader, he was more of a loner, but he followed the Dark Lord. Harry looked at the shocked Death Eaters before him, their bone-white masks hiding nothing of their emotions.

Slowly, the Dark Lord pointed to each Death Eater, from left to right, "Lucius Malfoy, he has a son your age named Draco," He pointed to the blonde man, who looked surprised that Harry was the same age as his son, "Nott, also father to a son around your age named Theodore. Rodolphus Lestrange, husband of Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix Lestrange, one of my most trusted Death Eaters, she also has a thing for torture. Lastly, Severus Snape, he is also a very trusted Death Eater, and is a Potions Professor in Hogwarts," The Dark Lord introduced them, each bowing a little in return.

Then there was a bit of an awkward silence, then Bellatrix looked at Harry, "My lord, could the Dark Prince give us the honor of joining on the raid coming up? It would seem proper that your son would come with us for the first raid we've had in seven years," she asked.

The Dark Lord paused for a moment, "Very well, he will join you, should anyone ask, you have permission to tell them, provided they're a Death Eater of course," he paused for a moment, "Since that's all, you are dismissed."

After they had flooed back to Riddle Manor, Harry turned to the Dark Lord, "When is the raid?" he asked.

"It has been decided to be on the day I was 'killed', almost a year from now," he told him.

"Cool!" Harry said, then he went upstairs to his room.

In the center of the room, the egg was sitting, just as Harry walked in, he thought he saw it wiggle a bit. Immediately, he dashed over and sat on the bed next to it. A tiny crack appeared on the shell as a dusty-brown beak broke through. Slowly, the beak pulled back and pushed again, the cracks spreading over the top half of the shell. Then it pulled back again and slammed it's beak at the shell, and Harry watched as the tiny spiked dragon burst out of its shell and landed in his lap.

"Hello little dragon," Harry said, looking down at it. The little dragon looked up at him with two big hazel-colored eyes, then nipped his finger playfully, drawing a bit of blood.

"Ow! Bad dragon!" Harry snapped, sucking on his finger. Then he watched before his eyes as the baby dragon's eyes turned bright red and his scales became midnight black, "Woah! Did you just do what I think you did hatchling?" Harry asked, the dragon nodded, it's eyes sparkling happily.

"Well then, I better give you a name, how about Goliath?" Harry asked, the dragon let out a cat-like purr, curling up on his lap. "I've never heard of a person having a blood bond with a dragon, guess we'll see what happens, hm Goliath?" He asked affectionately, he was certain that his attachment to the cute dragonling was because of the blood bond, but he didn't care.

Goliath had fallen asleep, so Harry gently set him on his bed, casting a slight warming charm. Then he stood up, he'd better get some food for the little dragon. Walking into the kitchen, Harry poured some milk into a glass, then transfigured the mouth to be smaller, warmed the milk, and made it so it held more than it appeared to. Now it somewhat resembled a baby bottle, although Harry wasn't particularly talented at transfiguration. Walking back up the stairs, Harry cast a quick tempus, seeing that it was only ten minutes before his training session with the Dark Lord started.

He dashed up the stairs. Goliath was still curled up on the bed, "Goliath" Harry whispered, immediately Goliath's eyes snapped open, "I got some milk for you to drink," Harry told him, then Goliath launched himself at the glass bottle, chugging more than Harry would have thought possible for such a small dragon, maybe the little dragon had an expansion charm on his stomach. Harry knew that was impossible, but it was fun thinking it. Anyways, the books he'd read said baby dragons grew extremely fast, and their size depended on their type of dragon, chance, and how much food they had access to. Apparently dragons had excellent digestive systems.

Thinking about digestion, Harry quickly pulled out a box and transfigured a bed sheet into sand to make a litterbox of a sort, "Goliath, don't poop all over my room, only in that box, okay?" Harry asked, the dragon huffed and nodded.

"Then I need to get going, if you need more to eat, ask Friz, Friz, if Goliath looks hungry, make sure he's well fed," Harry ordered the house elf, then hurried down the stairs to the library where his father was waiting.

"Today we're going to start your training with the unforgivables," the Dark Lord told him.

-=Order of the Phoenix Headquarters=-

James, Lily, and Sirius watched as Severus walked in, his normally grumpy face was replaced by a look of complete horror. Now don't get him wrong, he hated Snivellus, but if he was scared, it was for a reason.

"What's wrong?" Dumbledore asked, having entered moments later, he was likely the only person who didn't really want Severus to be unhappy.

"It's… the Dark Prince. I was right, the Dark Lord has a son, and his son isn't any better than his father, if anything, he's worse," Severus told them.

"Why? What'd he do?" Lily asked.

"Nothing, it's just. He looks terrifying, and reeks of Dark Magic. His eyes, they glow the color of death. If ever one could depict the image of death, of death's human form, he'd be it. His hair is the color of shadows, it looks like it's made of shadows," Severus said.

"Would you say he had eyes of death more so than the Dark Lord?" Dumbledore said, a worrying and contemplative look on his face.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Severus asked.

"A prophecy I heard, a little over a year ago, it spoke of a Dark Lord rising, with eyes of death and soul of black. I assumed it meant Voldemort was back, but maybe not so," Dumbledore told them, everyone flinched at the name of the Dark Lord.

"Another Dark Lord? Also, I don't understand, I mean, what could be so frightening about a boy's appearance?" Sirius asked.

"It's… impossible to describe, I can show you the memory, if you would like," Severus responded, seeming to forget his hate of Sirius.

Everyone was a tad shocked, but agreed nonetheless, and so Severus pulled out the memory and put it into the pensieve.

 **AN Boom! Two chapters in one day! Beat that! Next chapter will be Harry going on a raid. Also, Harry won't ever own Hedwig in this fic, his familiar is instead Goliath. Not really sure what else to put in this chapter. This story is going to have a still extremely corrupt Ministry, so that if Dumbledore tries to prove Harry is the Dark Lord's son, everyone will fail to believe him except for Order members. So, yeah!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	5. The Next Merlin

**AN Hello! Thanks for the reviews and stuff! As you can probably tell by now, my updating is crazy and random in speed, I sometimes am inspired to write more! Anyways, on to Harry's first raid!(Harry: Age 7 and 3 months)**

When Harry woke up, at exactly six am, he jumped out of bed, got dressed, and apparated into the forest where Goliath was. Goliath was huge, much bigger than any normal Hungarian Horntail. Sensing his presence, Goliath let out a roar of joy and trotted over to where Harry was, lowering his head to Harry's level. Grinning, Harry grabbed onto Goliath's two front spikes and pulled himself up onto his neck. Immediately launching into the air, Harry let out a yell of delight as they soared through the skies. Goliath roared so loud it was likely heard for miles around, but luckily not many people were miles around. Then he let out a big puff of red and black flames, and pulled up just before he flew into the flames.

The two of them had taken to riding ever since Goliath had turned one month hold, at which point he learned to fly and could easily hold Harry on top of him. Suddenly, Goliath flipped upside down along with a very surprised Harry, grinning, Harry let go, letting himself going into a freefall. Goliath then dived down after him, until they were falling at the same speed. Then, less than a hundred feet from the ground, Goliath pushed his spiked tail towards Harry, Harry grabbed a spike that had been notched and had a strong sticking charm on it. As soon as Harry was holding the tail spike, Goliath pulled up in a curve, granting him a lot of speed, and making Harry feel like he was flying as well.

After they'd slowed down a bit, Goliath flicked Harry into the sky as Harry release the spike, allowing Harry to land exactly where he'd started. Laughing, Harry mentally informed Goliath they should probably get going back to the forest. Goliath nodded, and made a sharp perfect one-eighty degree turn. Harry leaned between Goliath's spikes as he silently cast extremely powerful speed charms on both he and Goliath, and he watched as the trees blurred underneath them as they arrived at Goliath's cage. Not that Harry ever locked the cage, he knew that despite the charms placed on it, Goliath could easily break it. He hopped off of his back, said goodbye, and headed back to Riddle Manor.

He arrived at the manor at 8:30, his first raid was in 30 minutes. Harry quickly put on his Death Eater cloak after shoving a piece of toast in his mouth. Then he grabbed his mask, cast some traction charms on his shoes, and grabbed his second wand. His second wand didn't fit him as perfectly as his phoenix feather one, but it was usable. It had a dragon heartstring core and ashwood outside, Harry had no doubt it fit him because of his bond with Goliath, as the heartstring was Hungarian Horntail.

He checked the time, 8:55, might as well go to the Death Eaters Headquarters. He was going to leave for the raid with Severus. Quickly he flooed over, he was thankful for whatever charms stopped the mask from obscuring his vision. He exited the door to the left, then turned right and walked down a long hallway, entering the room Severus was in, Harry saw the time was 8:58, almost perfect timing.

Severus was sitting in a chair, as soon as he saw Dark Prince, he quickly kneeled then stood up again. Severus had gotten used to the Dark Prince after a while, which was a relief, because if he hadn't, then he'd probably have tried to quit being a death eater and died. Not that the Dark Prince didn't still look scary.

"My prince, it is time for us to apparate to Diagon Alley," Severus told the Dark Prince after a moment or two of silence. Nodding, the prince apparated away immediately.

Harry smiled underneath his mask as soon as he saw Diagon Alley. There were quite a few early-riser wizards about, although Harry noticed quite a few were Aurors. That would make the raid much more fun and challenging. More Death Eaters had started apparating into the alleys, and people noticed. Bellatrix made the first move, shooting a blasting curse at an Auror. Immediately, people started screaming, and Death Eaters exiting the alleys, Harry followed them out. An Auror overcoming his shock, shot a stunning spell at Harry. Harry easily rolled out of the eye, silently shooting an Incendio, Sectumsempra, and Stupify in quick succession at the man. Getting a better look, Harry saw that the man was middle-aged, obviously decently experienced. The man ducked underneath the Incendio, didn't move into the path of the Sectumsempra, and put up a shield against the stunner.

His shield almost shattered, but managed to block the spell, "Lacero!" Harry shouted, throwing as much power as possible into the spell. The man had only just brought his other shield down, and was shocked at how young Harry was, long enough that he only had enough time to cast a weak shield that the spell easily tore through. The man screamed for a moment as the spell tore him apart, literally. This drew the attention of another Auror, looking at him, Harry realized it was none other than Alastor Moody or Mad-Eye, a member of the Order of the Phoenix. The man disapparated away, then suddenly he, James, Lily, Sirius, and Dumbledore came back. Before they had time, Harry put all his power into a blasting curse and sent it into the ground in front of them. The ground exploded, sending huge boulders of dirt and rock where the five of them had been only moments before.

Harry felt his magic drain dangerously low. He grabbed his ashwood wand, and felt fire rise up in him as he used his bond with Goliath to take as much strength as he dared from his dragon. Looking up, he saw that Alastor and Dumbledore were completely fine, Lily had a few scrapes, James had dozens of shards of stone imbedded in his legs, and Sirius had a broken arm. They all looked shocked at the strength of the spell Harry had cast, the gash in the ground was at least five meters in diameter. Harry smirked, a Death Eater suddenly cast a spell at Sirius and he entered the battle. They all snapped out of their daze, going off to fight Death Eaters. Checking the sky, Harry saw the Dark Mark casting a glow in the air as spells flashed bellow it.

The concept of raids was funny, Harry thought, if everyone here that wasn't a Death Eater died, it was a success. If the Order managed to kill or imprison every single Death Eater, it was still a partial success, as the main job of Death Eaters were to cause chaos. Death Eaters tended to apparate away when they were badly injured though, so it was unlikely people could get every single one. A stunner was cast at Harry, without even really paying attention, Harry cast a Incendio back. He heard a scream, so he assumed it had hit. His magic levels were still at only about half. Turning, Harry saw that James of all people, was barreling toward him, wand raised.

After a second, Harry raised his wand, setting off five different weakish stunners in a plus formation. He hoped James would try to dodge, but sadly he didn't, instead putting up a strong shield. That helped as well because James used a lot of his magic on that shield against a weak spell. Harry waited until he was forced to put his shield down, Harry guessed it had used at least a third of his energy stores. Smirking underneath his mask, Harry cast a decently strong Incendio at a building, trying to provoke James into attacking. That was the nice thing about Incendio, it was like an enhanced normal fire, and it could spread on its own.

" _Stupify_! _Expelliarmus_!" James yelled, the two spells launching towards Harry. The disarming spell was easily avoided, and because the stunner was so low, Harry simply jumped over it.

Harry put his phoenix feather wand in his pocket, it didn't go well with dragon magic anyways. ' _Oculto Gladio_ ' He silently cast, feeling as the familiar weight of a sword landed in his hand. Of course, no one could see it. Grinning, Harry leaped the short distance between him and James, raising his sword. James tried to dodge it once he realized Harry was holding something invisible. A nasty gash slid across the entirety of his right arm, causing him to drop his wand. 'Accio Wand' Harry thought, watching as the wand flew to his hand. James glared at him, tried to snatch his wand back, failed, and then disapparated away. Grinning, Harry cast a dissolving charm on it, watching as the wand blew away as dust.

Spinning in a circle, Harry realized that the majority of the Death Eaters had disapparated, there were less than ten of them there, and very few dead Death Eaters. Sighing as he didn't have a single injury on him, Harry apparated to Death Eater headquarters. Soon after, Bellatrix and Severus came back, they both had a few injuries, Severus had a nasty looking slash running diagonally over his shoulder and on his back. He also looked like he might have been nearby when Harry blasted the ground to pieces. Bellatrix had blood running from her forehead down her face, but she didn't really seem to care. The other Death Eaters looked like they were all about to die or something, blood covered their capes and long slashes were drawn across them. Rolling his eyes, Harry realized they must have just not wanted to be bested by him. As he walked back to the floo, he saw some Death Eaters looking at him with contemplative looks, while others in respect or even fear. Shaking his head, Harry stepped into the floo, then appearing in Riddle Manor. Letting out a sigh, Harry plopped onto the couch near the fire, his magic was on the verge of magical exhaustion. He'd given all the dragon magic he had left back to Goliath.

After a minute, Harry got up and headed to the kitchen, there was a stack of all different kinds of sandwiches. Harry picked up a corned beef one with a lot of lettuce and mayo. Biting into it, Harry relished the flavor. Then he realized that over the whole fight he'd never gotten to using even one of the unforgivables, even though he knew he could cast them. Shrugging, Harry proceeded to eat more. He'd learned that because of his bond with Goliath he had a slightly faster metabolism, mainly digestion though. It also gave Harry slightly more strength and speed, but since he never did extreme fitness training, it just made him seem like he did do fitness training of some sort.

' _Tempus'_ Harry thought, seeing it was three pm. Going out into the forest, Harry decided to hunt for something for Goliath to eat. After casting a silencing and odorless charm on himself, Harry crept into the woods. About a mile or so into the woods, Harry finally saw a piece of prey, a huge stag. Harry knew it wasn't Prongs, but it was fun to pretend as he imperiused the stag so that it went to Goliath's cage then went to sleep. Breathing in the fresh air, Harry headed back to Goliath's cage with the stag. Once there, Harry looked around to see that Goliath was likely hunting as well. He sat down, deciding on how he would tell Goliath about his raid, as they had been far enough apart that Goliath couldn't sense it through their bond. Harry smiled, the new life he had with Voldemort was amusingly better than his life had ever been with the Potters.

-= Order of the Phoenix Headquarters =-

Remus watched with an eyebrow raised as he watched first Dumbledore, then Alastor, James, Sirius, and Lily entered the room. They were all covered in dirt, and James, Sirius, and Lily had dozens of rocks in them. James also was lacking a wand, looked miserable, and had a huge gash on his right arm. Then Remus quickly gave each of them a washcloth and a few healing potions. A moment after that, Snape stumbled through the floo, a startled look on his face. He had dirt covering him as well and a gash running onto his back. It was clear though that he had been wearing a Death Eater mask Molly and Arthur Weasley had walked into the room as well, it was clear they hadn't been in the fight though.

After a moment, Arthur spoke, "What happened?" he asked. Dumbledore had cleaned his hands and face.

Dumbledore opened his mouth, but Snape spoke first, "The Dark Prince happened," he growled, wincing as he dabbed one of the potions directly onto his scrape.

"Dark Prince?" Molly asked, she had a huge bandage roll in her hand as she wrapped it around James's arm. She muttered something about them getting Madam Pomfrey as.

Sirius gave her a look, shaking his head, "I guess no one's bothered to tell her, it's only been at least a YEAR after we found out," he sighed.

"Well?" Molly asked, putting her hands on her hips when she realized she must've been left out of something. Arthur just looked vaguely surprised, and perhaps a bit annoyed, but it was impossible to tell.

"The Dark Prince, as he is referred to, is Voldemort's son. Snape, being one of the Inner Circle, was introduced to him last year. Snape also tipped us off about the raid that the Dark Prince was going on, which was why we were available when Moody told us what was happening," Dumbledore explained, the blue twinkle in his eyes all but nonexistent, everyone winced at the use of Voldemort's name.

"Did he do… This?" Arthur gestured to them, "To all of you?"

"Yes, he blasted a huge hole in the ground, then proceeded to attack me as if nothing happened," James told him, pressing the cold washcloth on his shoulder, "He's adept in silent spells and put this slash on my shoulder with some sort of invisible sword."

Remus gasped, a little boy, likely barely older than eight or possibly seven, was able to do this? "B-but that's impossible! No one could be that powerful! At that age, I would say that he would grow to be the next Merlin! Are you sure it wasn't someone else? Maybe an exceptional Death Eater?" He stated, a normal wizard didn't even show accidental magic until the age of 9 or 10, and their magical cores were strong enough to use at an age of 11.

"I'm afraid, my boy, that it is possible, and true. We likely do have a second Merlin on our hands, and added on that, he's likely to grow up to be a Dark Lord," Dumbledore said, "Should he reach his prime age, he would be able to destroy anyone in his path, even if Voldemort…" Dumbledore started, everyone winced again, "As I told you before, fear of the name only instills more fear of the thing itself! As I was saying, if Voldemort and I teamed up, it would still be unlikely we would be able to take down a full grown Dark Prince. Knowing the Dark Lord though, he likely as this boy under his complete control, he wouldn't ever risk himself, even for a boy as powerful as this one."

"You said that if he reached his prime age, what do you expect we should do? It would be wrong to just kill the boy, as you said, it's just You-Know-Who's manipulation that makes him evil," Lily told him.

"I say we kill him! It's not worth the risk, did you hear what Dumbledore said? This Dark Prince is powerful enough that if we let him live, he'll likely kill us all in the future!" Alastor exclaimed, "If the Boy-Who-Lived lasts long enough to kill Voldemort, it will be too late to change the Dark Prince's mind! And that's if that prophecy even is accurate!"

"Of course it's accurate! Have you seen what a powerful wizard Griffith is? He could easily grow up to be the next Dumbledore!" James defended his son.

"Merlin" Snape told them, "Did you not listen to what Dumbledore said? It doesn't matter if Griffith grows to be as strong as Dumbledore, this Dark Prince will be the strongest wizard in centuries!"

"Pah! I doubt it! No one's ever survived the killing curse, not even Merlin! Granted, he was never hit with it," James told them, obviously starting to take the claims personally.

"That's the thing isn't it? Anyone alive might have the ability to survive the killing curse just like your son did, just because they were never hit with it doesn't mean anything," Dumbledore countered calmly.

"B- I guess you're right, what do we do though?" James sighed, defeated, "If Griffith destroys Voldemort, then the Dark Prince will destroy him."

"I think that you should go to the ministry professor, surely your position as head of Wizengamot right?" Lily asked.

"An excellent idea Lily! I would normally say that Fudge would just deny Voldemort's return like always, but the proof is undeniable," Dumbledore declared, eyes starting to twinkle again, "I will request a bounty of some sort on the capture of the Dark Prince, he is still young and foolish, and should be easy to catch."

"Well then Albus, the sooner the better, is it not? You should depart right now! Before the Ministry closes for the night!" Alastor said, his glass eye focusing on Dumbledore as he excitedly started to practically drag him towards the fire.

Letting out a slightly exasperated sigh, Dumbledore took a handful of floo powder throwing it into the fire and disappearing through the green flames.

-= Ministry of Magic =-

"Millicent, I fear we have a problem," Dumbledore sighed as he walked into her office. Millicent Bagnold, the current Minister of Magic, looked up.

"Yes, yes we do," she said, recalling the report an injured auror had given only a few minutes before Dumbledore arrived, "You-Know-Who has returned, I'm considering resigning, I don't think I could bare another war," she groaned, being the Minister of Magic was an extremely stressful job, and a schoolmate she'd had, Cornelius Fudge, seemed more than eager for the position.

"I fear that that is the least of our worries," Dumbledore told her, she turned to him with a look of surprise, "You heard about the explosion, yes?" He asked.

"Of course! Who wouldn't notice it, the Auror who told me about it said it was the combined effort of multiple Death Eaters. If they can combine their magic like that, just imagine the chaos they could cause!" She exclaimed, not understanding what Dumbledore meant.

"I fear it is much worse than that," Dumbledore told her, "That spell was not cast by a group, it was cast by one…"

Millicent cut him off, "One? Of course! It must have been one of his Inner Circle, or perhaps You-know-who himself! Any full-fledged wizard of power near you or You-know-who's power could do it! Do you know who did it?" She asked, hoping to find the solution to at least one of her problems.

"As I was saying, it was cast by a boy," Dumbledore paused, Millicent's eyes widened, "Who goes by the name of the Dark Prince. This boy has been expected to exist by the Order for a year now. He is likely seven or eight, and extremely powerful. I'm afraid, that should he reach his prime, he will become more powerful than even his father or myself."

"His father? Dark Prince, no, tell me his father isn't who I think he is!" Millicent gasped.

"I'm afraid he is, the Dark Lord Voldemort has a son whom could easily become the next Merlin."

 **AN hehehehhhe! Sorry… I am making Harry extremely OP if you somehow had any worries about that :. I love Nightcore music! I was listening to all these different songs and they make me imagine evil things. Like how two of the songs (Nightcore- The Phoenix, and Nightcore- My Demons) seem to fit Harry extremely well :D or at least how I imagine Harry. Also, I'm making Mad-Eye as paranoid and slightly ruthless as possible. Next chapter… I'm actually not sure what to put in it. I want to do at least one more childhood chapter (if not more) before Hogwarts.**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle :D**


	6. Prophecies

**AN Herro! This is the second-to-last chapter until Hogwarts, or just the last, if you count Harry going shopping for supplies a Hogwarts part. Actually… It could be considered the third to last because chapter eight is likely going to be more of the train ride… anyways! That's beside the point, thank you for the reviews, on to the story! (Harry: Age Nine years and eleven months old)**

Harry sighed, kicking the sofa. He was so bored. He'd rode Goliath for at six hours until he had to let him go hunting. Ever since the ministry put a huge bounty on his capture, the Dark Lord had demanded that he stay in the Riddle Manor until he started Hogwarts, at which point his magic would be strong enough that he should have little trouble defending himself. He knew there was no arguing with his adopted father, and he did understand, it was just boring! Especially on the days when the Dark Lord went on a raid and Harry was stuck being babysitted, BABYSITTED, by Severus. Harry glanced at Severus, who was still reading a book and completely ignoring him. Ugh, now Harry's foot hurt.

Harry was considering trying to Imperius Severus, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't work on the master Occlumens. Reaching out his hand, Harry wandlessly and wordlessly levitated the couch, feeling as his magic drained. Groaning, Harry plopped it back down again with a loud thud, and one of the legs broke. Pulling out his wand, Harry silently cast a reparo, watching as the leg fixed itself. Turning, Harry noticed that the foul tempered Potions Master seemed to have failed to notice. Harry jumped onto the sofa, laying across it so that he covered the most of it possible. Looking at him, Harry sent a weak jinx at Severus, watching as his robes slowly turned hot pink from the bottom up. Severus only noticed when they started to turn pink where his book was resting.

Severus raised his head, looking at the Dark Prince in front of him. This was the seventeenth time he was assigned to watch over the brat. The boy had extreme boredom issues, after only entering the mansion ten minutes ago, the boy had already jinxed him three times, broken four things, and never seemed to stop moving. Luckily, the boy didn't really put much effort in his jinxes, so Severus countered them easily enough. It was likely the boy wanted a reaction, but Severus was certain anything he did would likely cause problems, after all, the brat was the Dark Lord's son. Severus wondered for a moment if the Dark Lord had been like this when he was younger, he almost, almost chuckled at the thought. After a few experiences with the boy, Severus had found out that the boy was more of a powerful high ranked Death Eater, and saw the Dark Lord as his master, not as his father. Right now, Severus had trouble relating the boy to his father, but sometimes it came to him as clear as day how like his father the boy was. The Dark Prince could be charming and an extremely good actor if he chose to be. He was also ruthless, the Cruciatus bothered him less than anyone Severus had ever seen, and he had an extremely dark aura that he released sometimes that was very intimidating. Severus let out a puff of breath.

"Severus? Can I please go do something! I could illusion myself and go kill some Order members! Something, anything, please!" Harry asked, he never admitted it to anyone, not even himself, but sometimes he felt like Severus was the closest he'd ever gotten to a parent figure.

"No, your father has strictly ordered me to not let you out of this house," Severus growled.

"Please? Maybe we could play wizarding chess! Or duel! I love dueling! C'mon! Please!" Harry begged.

"No wizarding chess or dueling," Severus groaned.

"Are you scared? Hm? Is that why? Bet I could beat you! You couldn't dodge a spell if you tried! I'll duel you wandlessly? Please!" Harry exclaimed.

"I… I guess," Severus gave in, glaring at the brat as he attempted puppy dog eyes, it didn't really work though when his eyes looked like death itself.

"Thank you! Thank you! Finally!" Harry practically yelped.

"Get yourself together boy! It's only one duel, nothing to cause such a bother about!" Severus growled, momentarily forgetting who he was talking to. Somehow that Dark Prince didn't seem to notice, Severus sighed quietly in relief, the sooner Dumbledore let him stop being a spy the better, it was getting harder every day to play the loyal Death Eater.

"To the duelling room!" the Dark Prince shouted, dashing off towards the magic practice room.

Getting out of his chair, Severus slowly walked after him. He knew he was going to regret this, even without his wand the boy was likely going to beat him, although it was a closish duel. As soon as he entered the room, the boy shot a modified version of the stinging hex at him, considered a torturing curse. Severus barely managed to duck out of the way, and responded by sending back a stunner. Raising his hands, the boy cast a shield spell, a light spell, curiously, the shield turned out a black color mimicking the boy's hair. The spell hit the shield, and was absorbed, moments later, the shield went down and a series of strong curses were sent towards Severus. These included an overpowered heat charm, something warm enough that could make burns that would cause scarring. Severus jumped out of the way only to find himself in the way of a sword the Dark Prince had conjured and banished at him, quickly, Severus cast a summoning charm on the hilt, watching as the sword flipped and he got hit with the hilt instead of the blade. Looking up, he saw the boy had somehow managed to spell a sword, from what he could tell, it had sharpening, unbreaking, lightening, and of course flaming charms placed upon it. It resulted in a flaming golden sword that flickered different shades of orange from the reflections of the flames. Severus sent a dark spell he'd made up towards the boy, it was able to pass through all of the common shields, it smothered the attacked person's magic for differing amounts of time depending on how much power he sent in it.

Then the boy speed-apparated, something that almost everyone else avoided because of the intense pain of it. The pain normally stopped it from being effective in fights, apparently not for the Dark Prince though, as before Severus even registered where the boy had gone, his wand was hit out of his hand by a burning sword, then the sword pulled back and Severus felt a sting as it poked into the back of his neck. Then his wand zoomed off the floor and presumably into the Dark Prince's hand.

"I win," the boy said, smirking as he pushed Severus away from him and gave him his wand back.

"Yes, I suppose you do," Severus congratulated him, pausing for a second before adding "Good job, that was an amazing display of magic."

The boy ignored his complement, changing the subject, "What was that spell you used at the end? The one I dodged?"

"It's a dark spell, the incantation is Kovrilo, had you tried to shield against it, it would likely break through," Severus informed him.

"Kovrilo…" The Dark Prince whispered under his breath, "What does it do?"

"It can stop a person's magic for any amount of time, depending on how much power you put into it," Severus told him, he had a fear he knew where this was going.

"Can you show me how to do it?" the boy asked.

Severus groaned mentally, "I will, but after that, we're done for the day," he growled.

"Yes sir!" The Dark Prince said, fake saluting in a very Muggle way. Knowing how the boy loathed Muggles, Severus knew that he was taunting him.

"The motion for casting this spell is fairly simple, start with your wand vertical, and then snap it straight towards what you're aiming for the moment you finish the incantation," Severus instructed, watching as the boy attempted to follow his directions, but it was hard to tell what he was doing wrong the first time he tried because of the fact he was doing to wordlessly.

After only a couple tries, the boy got the dark blue spell out of his wand, although he could use some practice, "Awesome!" he said, watching as the spell momentarily froze the dummy.

Severus sighed, Mad-eye would likely try to get him killed for teaching the Dark Prince a new spell.

-= One Hour Later, Riddle Manor =-

"My lord!" Harry said respectfully, kneeling and bowing his head for ten seconds before bouncing back up, looking into his adopted father's scarlet eyes.

"Hello again my prince, have I not told you before nothing more than a simple bow is necessary? Kneeling makes you seem like a weakling Death Eater," the Dark Lord told him, in his usually commanding tone.

"Many times, I am sorry my lord," Harry responded.

The Dark Lord turned to look at Severus, "I take it Severus has treated you well while I was away?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes, he taught me a new spell," Harry told him, carefully keeping from showing his excitement.

"Very well, Severus, you are dismissed," the Dark Lord told Severus.

"Yes, my lord," Severus responded, leaving through the floo.

Voldemort looked at Harry. He wasn't sure what to do with the boy, he was, he admitted, afraid that if the boy found out he was starting to become stronger than he that his Dark Prince would destroy him, like the prophecy stated, although Voldemort wasn't certain it was his Dark Prince that was prophesized. He wished he had that prophecy, but it was warded so that only he or the 'Boy-Who-Lived' could pick it up. Wait, Voldemort carefully hid his shock at his own stupidity from his face, his Prince could also pick up this prophecy because of his immunity to wards!

Then, almost like he could read his thoughts, "Can I please go on a mission? Just something easy, something not risky?" the boy asked.

Voldemort pretended to ponder it for a moment, "I suppose, could you do a little job at the Ministry for me?" He phrased it like a question, but it was obvious it was a command.

"Yes! I mean, yes my lord, what would you like me to do?" his Prince asked, his mask flickering for a moment.

"There is a prophecy about me and your old brother in the Hall of Prophecies, I would like you to retrieve it for me. Because of your ward immunity, this should be fairly easy," Voldemort informed him.

"Yes my lord! I'll go immediately," his Prince told him, grabbing his wand and summoning his Dark Prince attire.

A moment later, Harry apparated into the Hall of Prophecies, "Drop your wand and put your hands up!" A shocked Auror said, one who happened to be directly behind him.

He couldn't believe his luck! Someone to kill as well as a prophecy to collect! Dropping his wand, Harry turned around. Shock spread across the Auror's face as he realized just who had managed to apparate into an anti-apparition area. Grinning gleefully under his mask, Harry wandlessly cast a killing curse at the man, watching as the Auror fell to the ground, dead. Harry frowned, that had been too quick, it didn't really make him feel any better about the lack of raids in the last two years. ' _Accio_ Prophecy' Harry thought, thinking of his father's prophecy but also wondering about a prophecy about him. To his surprise, moments later, he saw two prophecy orbs flying towards him. He caught them both, looking at the pedestal they had been on, he saw that the one that had him was just him, labeled Dark Prince. Casting a duplicating spell on the orb, Harry then threw one of the voice recordings of his prophecy on the floor. He listened as the words came out.

" _The Dark Lord arises_

 _Eyes of Death and_

 _Soul of black,_

 _he seeks revenge from those who wronged him,_

 _The Dark Lord arises"_ The voice rasped. Harry gasped, Dark Lord? Him? He wasn't a Lord of anything! Although he most definitely seeked revenge on his birth parents and brother. Shaking his head, Harry decided that he would share it with the Dark Lord or other Dark Lord now? Sighing, Harry grabbed his wand and apparated back to Riddle Manor, an orb in each hand. He saw that the Dark Lord had settled in the seat Severus normally sat in. He started to pull back his leg to kneel, then corrected it to a deep bow.

"I have returned, and I found a prophecy that is supposedly about myself, I hope you don't mind that I took it?" Harry asked once he had straightened up again.

"Yes, yes, that's fine, can I see the prophecy about myself?" the Dark Lord asked, his mask failing as he attempted to suppress his curiosity of what his prophecy said.

Harry handed him the prophecy, watching as the Dark Lord cast a spell that released the words of the spell. It was much more complex than his own, but seemed to point towards Griffith being the chosen one. After all, Griffith did have the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Looking at the Dark Lord though, it seemed something was wrong. The Dark Lord seemed to have forgotten he wasn't alone, as a look of worry and contemplation spread across his face.

"Is something wrong my lord?" Harry asked, the Dark Lord looked up sharply at him, quickly masking his emotions.

"I need to show you something my Prince, put down your occlumency shields," the Dark Lord ordered.

Nodding, Harry quickly dropped his mediocre shields, then looked into the Dark Lord's eyes, struggling to not put up his shields as his adopted father used legilimency on him. He watched as almost a simple member of an audience as his father sifted through his memories, working backwards to the point of when Harry must've been no older than two years old. Harry watched as an event he had heard recounted to him a million times before took place. The Dark Lord burst into the nursery where he and Griffith were sitting on the floor. Then, to Harry's shock, the Dark Lord pointed his almost bonelike wand at Harry-baby and cast the killing curse. The spell the proceeded to hit some sort of killing curse colored shield, before a beam of yellow light struck Griffith in the forehead, and the now blue shield faded away, the Dark Lord had apparated away at the point when it first started to reflect, as his curse breakers had taken down all the wards on the house. After the light of the yellow beam faded a small red cut could be seen on Griffith's forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Gasping, Harry was pulled out of the memory as the Dark Lord left his mind, "What does that mean?" he asked the Dark Lord.

"It means that it is more likely you are the prophesized child my Prince, as you are the one I marked as my equal. Now that my suspicions have been as close to confirmed as they can get, show me this other prophecy you found," Harry carefully took his orb out of its stand and handed it to the Dark Lord.

After listening to it, Voldemort decided he needed to look deeper into those prophecies.

-= Order of the Phoenix Headquarters =-

"I had to babysit the Dark Lord's son again," Severus told Dumbledore as he, Dumbledore, James, Sirius, and Alastor sat at the end of the large table.

"Oh? That would be the thirteenth time you had to watch him right?" Sirius asked, he had found it extremely amusing when he found out Snivellus was stuck with the Dark Prince while the Dark Lord went on raids.

"It would be the seventeenth time actually, and the boy managed to convince me to duel him," Severus winced, rubbing the back of his neck where there was a scab. He had found out that the little cut the boy put in the back of his neck was a bit worse than he'd thought it was.

"Hah, that would be quite the sight to see, how quickly did you lose?" Sirius asked, chuckling at the thought of a young boy defeating Severus in a fight, although it was obvious the boy could.

"I held my own for a while, granted he decided to battle me without a wand. For some reason he is also obsessed with swords," Severus informed him.

"That is interesting indeed Severus, as if I recall correctly, swords were the preferred weapon of Godric Gryffindor," Dumbledore observed.

"Don't get any ideas about him being a 'true Gryffindor at heart'. His obsession with swords is more likely related to his love of pain. He also has absolutely no sense of honor. He's most definitely a Slytherin, he reminds me much of his father at times," Severus warned Dumbledore.

"No my boy, I would never imagine any son of Voldemort-" Everyone cringed, "would ever be a Gryffindor, not any son like the Dark Prince anyways. Now I fear we have another matter on our hands, although I have a feeling I've figured out the culprit," Dumbledore started. "A few hours ago, an Auror by the name of Alan Niakem was murdered with the killing curse in the Hall of Prophecies. Two prophecies were stolen, one being the prophecy about your son, James. The other was the one that claimed the Dark Prince is the Dark Lord," Dumbledore told them.

"Did the Ministry records show anyone inside other than the Aurors at the time?" Moody asked.

"That's what makes this curious Alastor, there was no one unaccounted for that would have been able to reach Alan without apparating," Dumbledore informed them.

"Apparating! Everyone knows the Ministry as apparation wards everywhere except for the apparating points, which are closely monitored!" James all but shouted, "It's impossible for someone to get in by apparating, did that wards go down at any point?"

"No they did not, and it's not necessarily impossible. There is an extremely old dark spell I've heard of that could do it. The spell causes extreme pain that was known to make those who did it go insane. It had to be done on a developing magical core as well, and was extremely advanced magic. The book with the spell in it was lost centuries ago though, I am not sure how the Dark Lord acquired it, if that spell is indeed what the Dark Prince did on himself," Dumbledore said.

 **AN Yeah! Chapter six, I'll see you guys with the next chapter, Diagon Alley, soon enough, 'till then, cya!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	7. Diagon Alley

**AN Thanks for the reviews! Two subjects I would like to mention before continuing. First, to Anon The Mouse, I have an evil laugh, Harry won't be put in Slytherin (Hehe) for reasons that will pointed out in this chapter. Second, Summer Vacay is almost here for me, and I'm probably going to update faster, so should I make longer chapters or post multiple times a day, if you think I should write longer chapters, how long? 5k? 10k? Anyway, that's all I wanted to talk about, on to the story (Diagon Alley! Harry age 11)**

Harry let loose a sigh, adjusting the blankets. Once again, he questioned why he and his adopted father were trying so hard to make Dumbledore think he was the Dark Prince's abandoned twin. He did understand why the Dark Lord had said simple disguising charms wouldn't fool the old wizard, but why couldn't he just rub the fact he WAS the Dark Prince in the old fool's face? He was also supposed to blackmail the Sorting Hat into sorting him into a light house. He had to be carefree, happy, orphan Praet Riddle. He chuckled at the thought, his father had blurred the majority of his past memories of what his parents looked like and sounded like so that it would seem like the Dark Lord didn't want his son to remember him.

Harry glared around at the alley he was in, remembering the agreement he'd made with his father.

 _"My Prince, you must make the old fool trust you, and you will do anything possible to do that, understand?" the Dark Lord glared, it wasn't a question, more of a statement._

 _"Yes my lord," Harry agreed, "I'll act like a pathetic orphan who is amazed by the magic of the wizarding world."_

 _"Good, remember, you are to enter Hufflepuff or Gryffindor house. This will stop most of the teachers from being prejudiced. However, as none of my Death Eaters, not even those of the Inner Circle know of your education at Hogwarts, it is likely Severus will treat you badly. I hope you understand the importance of the light side trusting you?" The Dark Lord lectured._

 _"Yes my lord," he said._

Harry deeply regretted that agreement, and he'd only been in the dirty alley for an hour, one of the old fool's minions were likely to come for him soon. Groaning, Harry rehearsed his back story. He had gone to the orphanage, and Mrs. Caren's memories had been modified to think he had stayed there to the age of eight, at which point he ran away. He'd been abandoned by his father who'd shunned him for being weaker than his brother. He'd been living on the streets for three years. Harry huffed, he'd found out he could cast a strong enough disguising charm on his Dark Mark that even the old fool wouldn't be able to tell, although the spell failed every two hours, although it could be renewed. Also, Lucius had altered Harry's Hogwarts letter to write his name as Praet Thomas Riddle, as well as the list of students.

-= Hogwarts =-

"Headmaster, I found a specific letter that I think would be of importance to you, it has not been responded to as well," Professor McGonagall told him, handing him a letter.

"Riddle?" Dumbledore said, eyes widening at the name, "Alley? What would he be doing in an alley?" He asked.

"I did some tests, with the help of Professor Flitwick, and we think that this boy isn't in fact the Dark Prince, he's his twin," Professor McGonagall informed him, holding up a paper, it showed that Praet Riddle had a twin and he was born 1980, July 31st/August 1st.

"He was born on two different days?" Dumbledore asked.

"Apparently, he was born at the very death of the seventh month," the Professor told him.

Dumbledore swallowed, he was the only one who knew the full contents of the prophecy about Griffith, well at least, he had been, "Interesting," He responded. After a second he added, "I think I'll go fetch Mr. Riddle myself."

Then Dumbledore called Fawkes to his shoulder and had him teleport them away. He appeared in the alley in a burst of flames. Immediately, he noticed the only other inhabitant was a small boy underneath a tattered blanket. The boy really did appear to look exactly like the descriptions he'd gotten from Severus of the Dark Prince. Although this boy seemed more depressed and almost lost, a loner and outcast. The boy looked at him with green eyes that seemed to glow, he looked curious and not at all afraid. The boy was extremely skinny and pale, and his hair was messy and covered with things Dumbledore did not recognize.

The boy crossed his arms, "If you've come to take me back to the orphanage, I won't go!" The boy said defiantly.

"No, no my boy, I'm here to give you a letter actually, you've been accepted into a special school," Dumbledore told him.

The boy perked up, "Really? Can I see it? What kind of school? Are you sure, I am a freak after all," the boy jabbered on.

"Once again wrong my boy," Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling, "You aren't a freak, in fact, you're very special, you're a wizard."

"A wizard? Are you a wizard too? Is that why you're dressed in those funny robes? Will I have to wear robes like that? How many people are there like us? Is this school a magic school? Will I get a wand?" The boy asked excitedly.

"Yes, there are many other wizards and witches out there, I am the headmaster of a school of magic called Hogwarts, the world in which most wizards and witches live is called the wizarding world, and it's completely cut off from muggle civilization," Dumbledore told him.

"Muggle?"

"They are what wizards call non-magical people."

"Oh."

"Well we better get going to get you your school supplies, I'll accompany you as well, seeing as you don't have any parents to do so," Dumbledore told him, he held out his arm, "Grab on, this might make you feel a bit sick."

The boy grabbed his arm and Dumbledore apparated into Diagon Alley, watching as people bustled about. In the road, there was a huge back of very clean cobblestones where the Ministry had only recently gotten to repairing the hole the Dark Prince made. Looking at the boy looking around in wonder at the alley, Dumbledore was surprised to think of them as twins, they were extremely different. Dumbledore noticed they were getting a few strange looks, then realized they were gazing at the boy's filthy, torn cloths. With a wave of his wand Dumbledore transfigured them into a set of black robes similar to the normal robes of a Hogwarts student. The boy didn't notice for a second, then jumped in surprise at his new robes.

"Woah! That was awesome!" Harry gasped, he was finding it alarmingly easy to play the part of Praet the orphan. Looking at Flourish and Blotts, Harry pointed, "Can we go there?" he asked.

"Ah, a keen eye you have, that is the most popular bookstore in Diagon Alley. Once we get to Hogwarts you'll be in Ravenclaw for sure," The old fool told him merrily.

"Ravenclaw?" Harry asked with falsified curiosity.

"Yes, at Hogwarts, you will be administered a test that will sort you into one of four houses. There is Gryffindor, for the brave and honorable people. There is Hufflepuff, known for loyalty and trustworthiness. As I mentioned before, there is Ravenclaw, a house for the wise and those who seek knowledge. Lastly, there is Slytherin, the house of the cunning and ambitious," The old fool informed him, Harry stopped himself from commenting on how dark he made Slytherin sound.

"I want to be in Gryffindor!" Harry shouted, puffing up his chest. He really hope no Death Eaters saw him, it could prove to be excellent blackmail some day, and he'd hate to have to kill one of the Dark Lord's followers.

Dumbledore visibly relaxed, leading Harry into the bookstore. There were floors and floors of books, even more than there were available at the Dark Lord's manor. There was a section for all Hogwarts students to buy their books. Harry groaned when Dumbledore made him actually find the books instead of simply summoning them. Walking through the aisles, Harry refrained from grabbing the sixth and seventh year books and instead got the pathetically easy first year books. Who could ever go to Hogwarts and not even know where a bezoar came from? Or not know how to brew a cure for boils?

Harry answered himself, a mudblood wouldn't know. Why did purebloods and halfbloods have to learn things they already knew just because a few students didn't know a thing! Stupid muggles, stupid mudbloods, stupid muggle-lovers, and stupid old fool. Harry snatched the last book he needed off the shelves, covering his scowl with a look of wonder as he flipped open Hogwarts: A History. Acting like he was reading it and flipping the page occasionally, Harry walked back to where Dumbledore was waiting.

"Couldn't even wait to buy the book before you started reading?" Dumbledore asked, smiling.

"Nope," Harry answered absentmindedly, following Dumbledore to the counter. Once they reached it, Harry looked up with fake shocked eyes, "Wait! I've got to put these back, I'm sorry. I just don't have nearly enough to pay for them!"

"No worry my boy, I can pay for them, how does that sound?" Dumbledore asked, immediately falling for Harry's act, making him internally laugh.

"Thanks! That'd be great!" Harry responded.

While Dumbledore was waiting to buy the books, Harry sat on a bench outside the store. He heard a snort and looked up to see a proud and sneering Malfoy looking at him. Harry tried very hard not to smirk back, instead he looked up curiously at the boy. It was likely Draco, Lucius's son. If only he could tell Draco who he was. Harry stood up and smiled. He held out his hand, but the Malfoy just laughed and suddenly got a funny look on his face.

"Oh my! Anyone else smell that stench? I think there might be a mudblood nearby!" Draco stated loudly.

Harry showed a look of confusion, realization, and then annoyance on his face, "Mudblood? What's a mudblood? I have a feeling it is not a kind term. What's your name?" Harry asked, attempting to be polite.

"I am Draco Malfoy, Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient house of Malfoy, a pureblood. You are a mudblood, you were born from the dirt bellow wizards like I," Draco sneered.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Muggles are filthy people are they not?" Harry asked, "My name's Praet by the way," Draco looked surprised that Harry had insulted Muggles like it was no big deal.

Draco quickly recovered himself, "Well, I would stay and talk longer, but I'm afraid I don't have time for those as low as yourself," He told him, then turned and walked away.

Turning, Harry saw Dumbledore was watching him, the headmaster seemed quite pleased that Draco didn't get along with Harry. He walked out of the bookstore holding a small bag that was likely charmed to be bigger on the inside. He waved Harry over, and Harry shot off the bench and dashed over.

"Headmaster, what does it mean to be a mudblood? Am I a mudblood?" Harry asked, eyes wide.

"The word is a way for those born to wizards to insult muggleborns, wizards born to muggles," Dumbledore told him, "Out of school you can call me Dumbledore or Albus," He told him.

"O-oh. Who are my parents? I remember my father a bit, but I can't remember what he looked like. Was he a wizard?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore sighed, he would have to tell the boy someday, why not now, "Your father… he's an extremely powerful halfblood wizard, a wizard born to a pureblood and muggle. His name was Tom," He told him, hoping the boy didn't ask for details.

"I want to be a powerful wizard!" Harry said excitedly, "Wait, why did he leave me with those Muggles at the orphanage?"

"Your father is well-known by a different name, Lord Voldemort," A few people stiffened and kept walking when Dumbledore mentioned the Dark Lord's name.

"Lord? My dad's a lord? Cool! Do you think he'll want me back now?" Harry asked.

"Ah, I'm sad I must be the one to tell you this young Praet. He isn't someone to look up to. Many people of the Wizarding world call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He is also known as the Dark Lord. Your father is well-known among the wizarding world because he and his followers are responsible for the deaths of thousands of wizards and muggles alike," Dumbledore told him.

Harry faked a look of complete horror on his face, "A-are you sure? I mean maybe I'm not his son… or he's not that bad! I mean he can't be evil! I-I'm not evil am I? Was my father in that Gryffindor house too? I don't want to be in the same house as him!" Harry gasped quickly, internally smirking as he thought of the over one hundred wizards he'd slain.

"No, no my boy! You're nothing like your father or your twin" Harry laughed mentally, "And your father was in Slytherin house, not Gryffindor," Dumbledore explained, Harry let out a fake sigh of relief.

"I never said thanks," Harry started, pausing, "Thanks for inviting me to your school, helping me get supplies, and paying for those supplies."

"No worries my boy! It's been a pleasure helping you," Dumbledore started, he looked up and waved to someone, Harry followed his gaze and saw his old family walking towards them. "Hello James, Lily! This is Praet, it turns out the Dark Prince has a twin!" The two looked shocked and absolutely terrified, Harry looked at them in 'confusion' as Dumbledore whispered to them about him.

Eventually, they relaxed, and Lily even had a look of pity on her face, "Hello Praet, I'm Lily, and this is my son Griffith, he's going into Hogwarts this year as well!" She said warmly, pushing Griffith forward.

Harry smiled, and raised his hand to shake with Griffith, "Hi! My name is Praet, but Mr. Dumbledore already told you that didn't he?" Harry asked energetically. "Want to be friends? I don't have any wizard friends."

Griffith nodded, he puffed up a bit too, "I'll be friends with you, my mom told you my name, I'm the saviour of the wizarding world! I survived a curse that's meant to kill instantly and I also temporarily defeated You-Know-Who," he boasted, Harry was tempted to snap his neck, but instead settled for imagining fun ways to kill Griffith as he smiled warmly.

Harry noted the adults watching him for his reaction, Harry swallowed, "Oh, that's cool, what house do you think you'll be in?" He asked.

"Gryffindor! There's never been a Potter that wasn't in Gryffindor, you must be a muggleborn, what house do you think you'll be in?" Griffith asked.

"N- I mean yeah, I'm a muggleborn," Harry said with a weak smile, Griffith looked at him expectantly, "Oh! I'm going to be in Gryffindor too! Well at least I hope so! Slytherin sounds evil, and Ravenclaws sound over competitive. I like to think of myself as an honourable knight!" Harry responded, hopping a little. 'I think I've got this acting immature thing mastered' Harry thought.

After another hour of shopping with the Potters following him around, Harry was finally done shopping, which was a relief. His arms were hurting with the cauldron ingredients and cauldron he was holding. He'd gotten his wand back from a very confused Ollivander, and was relieved that he would finally be done. He didn't know if he could handle another second of Griffith's non stop boasting babble. He'd gone through over one thousand scenarios of how he'd kill Griffith. The craziest one he'd made included him stabbing Griffith repeatedly with a unicorn horn whilst Goliath slowly ate him piece by piece, it also included imperioing Griffith into doing the chicken dance off a cliff when all of his legs bellow the knees were gone. Harry had turned down a familiar saying he was going to look for something more exotic. Dumbledore had talked to the Potters for quite a while about something serious.

Dumbledore, James, and Lily walked up to Harry as he prepared to leave, "Praet, me and James heard about how you were an orphan and seeing how well you get along with Griffith, we were wondering if we could take care of you for the remainder of the summer. We can't adopt you, as we need to focus on Griffith's magical training, but if you stay for the next month, Dumbledore says he's willing to let you stay at Hogwarts for the summer," Lily asked him.

Harry internally was screaming no, but he put on a strained smile, "Yeah! That would be awesome!" He yelped happily.

"Great! We have spare brooms if you want to learn how to play Quidditch with Griffith!" James told him.

Griffith had overheard them, and immediately dashed over with a humongous grin on his face that quite honestly scared Harry, "Yay! Praet gets to stay for an entire month, don't worry Praet, by the time I'm done with you, you'll be better than anyone else at flying, except my father and myself of course," He promised.

"Cool! I'm so excited! Riding brooms and things sounds awesome! I think I also want to study my books though, with all those wizard-raised children, I might be behind!" Harry rambled worriedly.

"Pfft! Almost half of the wizard population didn't know about magic until they turned eleven!" Griffith reassured him.

"But that still means that half of the population did know about magic!" Harry exclaimed.

"Are you sure you aren't going to be in Ravenclaw?" Griffith asked, an almost disgusted look on his face.

"Well then kids, we better get going hm?" James said, "Grab my hands."

An instant later, they were in Potter Manor. It looked exactly how Harry remembered it. There were excessive amounts of red and gold everywhere, and pictures of lions that roared as well. The manor itself was half the size of Riddle Manor, and was much less serious. It had rich cream colored and gold carpets, with very little hard floor. The fireplace was made of a deep brown oak with golden carvings along it. There was a small red pot that was likely used for floo powder on a table nearby.

 **AN Yeah! Chapter Seven! Also, Harry isn't ever going to be much of a leader like his father, he's not a person that is a natural leader or enjoys being a leader. I decided to make him this way because it always seems like books dismiss some of the ways people can be different. Voldie may let Harry lead a small group of Death Eaters at some point, but it is unlikely. I imagine Harry more as a rogue assassin who also has a master. Next chapter is the train ride, sorting, and most importantly, HOGWARTS!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	8. To Hogwarts!

**AN Hello! I'm back with chapter 8! Thanks for all the reviews, and, according to the most direct review I got relating to length, I'm going to post one chapter a day max, I'll just improve/lengthen that chapter if I get extra time. To the story (Train, Sorting, HOGWARTS! Harry Age: 11 years and 1 monthish)**

Harry watched as the dark pines bent against the breeze. Ever since he'd been imprisoned by the Potters, he'd spent every moment he could alone. Potter Manor had a huge pine forest behind it, so it was the area he generally went. Sometimes he'd say he was going to the woods, then upon reaching them he'd apparate to Riddle Manor, riding Goliath and asking the Dark Lord if there were any missions for him. During the month he'd been gone, there'd only been one mission, it was more of something the Dark Lord had just come up with for Harry, which had him assassinate a few ministry officials. Griffith had been told who Harry's 'father' was, and every once in a while it was like Griffith suddenly remembered it and had a quick mood switch. They had grown closer in their one-way friendship, of course, Griffith didn't know that. Harry smirked. The Potters were extremely lazy once you got to know them, they usually woke up at nine or ten, the record was about twelve, at which point Harry had woke them up. Harry, on the other hand, woke up at six am every morning. He'd practice his moderate occlumency as he stared into the forest.

"Praet! Praet! We need to pack up! We're going to Hogwarts!" Griffith yelled as he sprinted towards Harry.

"Mhm, I already packed while you were still sleeping, we're due to be there at eleven o'clock correct?" Harry asked.

"Yeah! Mum is making breakfast, pancakes and homemade syrup!" Gryffith exclaimed excited.

"Cool, I'll go see if I can help her," Harry responded, playing the angelic helper child.

Griffith rolled his eyes, "You're always so eager to help with things, probably going to be in Hufflepuff or somethin'," He told him.

"Na, I think I'll get in Gryffindor, if I get anywhere else I think I'll die!" Harry exclaimed, internally changing the word Slytherin for Gryffindor. Of course, he was going to try to NOT get in Slytherin, so why did he still hope the hat would refuse after he threatened to destroy it and replace it with an evil duplicate.

"You better! If you aren't, I think I'll have to end our month-old friendship!" Griffith called behind Harry, "I'll be in the yard on my broom if you change your mind!"

Then Griffith ran off to the front yard as Harry stepped into the Gryffindor house. Immediately, he was assaulted by a warm gust of air filled with an overly sweet smell as well as a bready one. Closing the door quietly behind him, Harry carefully wiped off his shoes and set them side-by-side by the door. Walking into the kitchen, Harry blinked for a few seconds to adjust to the ridiculous bright golds and reds. Lily Potter was by the stove, a spatula in hand. Harry resisted scowling at the sight of a witch doing house elf work, and much worse, doing it on purpose. Instead, Harry walked over and waited for a moment to see if the Potter would notice him, but of course, ignorant fool that she was, she did not.

"Do you need help with anything?" Harry asked, smiling angelically.

"No no, but thank you for asking Praet, you're so sweet, I wish a bit of your manners rub off on Griffith," She told him, her smile and obvious joy made Harry involuntarily shudder, which luckily she didn't notice.

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping, and if I help we could probably get done twice as fast," Harry tried again, he wasn't sure if he'd rather help cook or fly with Griffith.

"Well, it's almost ready, how about you go get Griffith and I'll finish real quick?" Lily asked, Harry internally sighed in relief and left the kitchen.

Once outside of the kitchen, Harry fanned a bit of air in his face as he started to overheat. Pulling out his wand, Harry cast a minor cooling charm on himself, letting out a small sigh as he immediately felt better. After a minute, Harry finally reached the front door. He pulled it open just as Griffith face planted into the ground. Harry let out a small laugh out of hearing range of Griffith. Griffith apparently had absolutely none of his father's talent in the pointless sport. He watched as Griffith stumbled to his feet, his face red with a few scratches, and a little mud.

"Hey, your mum told me to tell you that breakfast is ready, you might want to clean up first though!" Harry said, holding back a smirk. Harry walked back inside where Lily Potter was just finishing setting the table. Her husband was standing there awkwardly as he waited for her to finish, having likely already offered to help, "I'm back, Griffith had a little mud on him so he went to the bathroom to clean up," he told them.

"Okay Praet dear, you can start eating, I'm sure Griffith will be back in a moment," she told him, pushing a humongous tower of pancakes towards Harry as he sat down.

Lily Potter had been obsessed with getting Harry 'fattened up' even though Harry knew that she and her husband had already agreed that it was likely genetic. Every time Harry ate though, they were shocked with the huge amounts of food he was able to down in one go. James Potter sometimes joked that Harry must have an enlarging charm on his stomach to fit all the food. Harry quickly slapped a huge slab of butter on the thick pancakes. It was the one thing he could deal with at the Potter's manor. Their food was just about as good as the house elves of Riddle Manor, which both amazed and disgusted Harry.

By the time Griffith walked into the room, Harry had already downed two of the humongous pancakes that were at least two decimeters in diameter and around a cm thick. Griffith still had a few scrapes visible on his face, but otherwise it was impossible to tell he'd taken a tumble. Griffith's parents had already finished eating, having waited only a little while after Harry started.

"I'm gonna go check my trunk and make sure I've got everything," Harry told them, putting his plate in the sink and running up the stairs. His room, which was the old nursery, had his trunk neatly placed in the corner. Harry quickly apparated to Riddle Manor to inform the Dark Lord of his departure. Upon finding that his adopted father was off at a raid, Harry apparated to the forest where Goliath was. Goliath was in a laying position, and set his head down so that he and Harry were almost at eye level. Harry reached up and rubbed the cool scales behind his spikes. Harry sat down and leaned against his familiar. The Potters had kept asking Harry about getting a familiar and he told them he'd gotten a special one a while back, but refused to mention anything about it except that his name was Goliath. Harry stood up after a minute or two and apparated back to Potter Manor before one of the Potters might wonder where he was. Harry pulled out his wand and cast a tempus, half past ten o'clock. He picked up his trunk and walked softly down the stairs.

Apparently he'd taken longer than he'd thought, as all the Potters looked ready to go, "Sorry for taking so long, had trouble finding a book," he lied smoothly.

"No worry! Ready to go? We're taking the floo, just take a handful of powder and say King's Cross Platform 9 ¾, throw the powder in the fire, and step through, Lily is going to go first," James Potter explained, then he turned and gave Lily a quick kiss, "See you soon!"

After she went, Harry walked through the floo with practiced precision, forgetting to act like it was his first time. He exited the fire and immediately realized his mistake when the Potter woman looked at him with shock. Internally wincing, Harry forced himself to look a tad sick, but nothing that would be exaggerated enough for it to seem like an act. The fire flashed green again and Griffith stumbled through, with a lot less elegance than Harry had. Harry put on a pretend surprised and confused look on his face like he didn't understand why Griffith had trouble with it. Then the fire flashed green one last time and James Potter walked out. Lily Potter led them over to where six of the Weasleys stood, this included Ronald, Fred, George, and Percy Weasley. Harry sadly knew them well enough, as Ronald or Ron Weasley was his and Griffith's age.

The adults quickly engaged in useless conversation. Eventually, the only children remaining were Harry, Ron, and Griffith. Then Griffith led them off onto the train, and proceeded to get them a compartment in the very back. Harry ground his teeth, refraining from complaining about the fact they would have to walk very far to get off the train. They quickly associated themselves so that Ron and Griffith were on one side and Harry was on the other. A few minutes later, a kind looking lady walked up with a trolley.

"Anything from the cart dears?" she asked, immediately Griffith shot up, Harry internally groaned as the greedy boy bought everything left on the trolley while Ron made a comment about having brought his own. Harry quietly snorted, the Weasley probably couldn't have afforded one thing off of the cart even if he wanted to.

After a minute of shoving candy in his mouth, Griffith offered a single chocolate frog to Ron and Harry. Harry took it with a quick thanks, and opened it with his left hand while his right hand was raised to snatch the frog the moment it opened. Harry held the frog in his hand until the magic in it stopped animating it. Then Harry started nibbling. He observed Ron's pet, a small light brown mouse that looked fairly new.

"What's your new pet's name?" Harry asked.

"He's named Woody, I got him a few days ago," Ron said, smiling as he looked down at the cute mouse.

"Cool, have either of you read your books yet?" Harry asked.

Griffith scoffed, "No, with all my extra training, I already know most of the spells we need to learn," he boasted.

"Really?" Harry asked, "Can you show me? I haven't done any spells yet."

"Sure!" Griffith responded confidently, pulling out his wand. Suddenly, Harry heard the sound of the glass door opening. Turning his head, he saw a dark brown eyed girl with a dead bush for hair, he immediately classified her as a mudblood.

"Has anyone seen Neville's toad? He seems to have lost it somewhere," the girl asked, everyone shook their heads. "Oh, okay," she turned to leave, then noticed the wand in Griffith's hand, "Ooh! Are you going to do a spell? I've read my books and tried a few simple spells and they've worked splendidly," she told them enthusiastically.

Griffith nodded, pointing his wand at a chocolate frog card, " _Wingardium Leviosa!"_ he said, and watched proudly as it floated a few inches off the floor after a moment.

"Woah! Neat, my name's Hermione, Hermione Granger, by the way," Hermione told them, "I was raised with muggles so this whole world is astonishing! The things you can do with magic are wonderful!" She exclaimed.

"I'm Praet Riddle," Harry told her, giving her a small smile, she returned it, and turned towards towards Weasley expectantly.

"I-I'm Ron, Weasley," He stuttered, Harry raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"I'm Griffith Potter, only known survivor of the killing curse," Griffith announced proudly.

Hermione's eyes widened in admiration, "Really? Can I see it? Your scar?" She asked excitedly, Griffith puffed up a bit and pushed his hair out of the way. "Wow! I read about you in my books, you caused one of the most powerful wizards of the century to go into hiding!" Then she looked at Ron and Harry again, "So were you guys raised by wizards too?" she asked.

Ron nodded, "I'm from a light pureblood family, my dad works in the ministry, his name is Arthur Weasley" he told her.

She looked at Harry, he winced, "Uh, I'm a halfblood," he told her quickly.

"Really? Who're your parents?" She asked.

"Uh, I-" Harry started.

Griffith cleared his throat, "It's a delicate subject," he told Hermione.

Her eyes flashed with understanding, although Griffith and Harry knew it was likely misunderstanding, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for bringing it up," she quickly said. Then she rushed out of the compartment.

As soon as she left, Ron sat up, "Who are Praet's parents?" he asked loudly, apparently he'd somehow not come to the same conclusion as Hermione.

Harry dramatically gulped, "Um, I'm well, the, you know, he's my father," he blabbered, "Griffith, you tell him."

Ron looked at Griffith expectantly, "Well, Praet was abandoned by his father when he was five, his father isn't a good person," he said.

"Was he a Death Eater?" Ron asked, to which Harry responded unintelligibly, "What'd you say? I didn't hear you?" Ron asked.

"He's not, he's… he's…" Harry said, "He's so much worse!" He gasped out.

Ron's eyes widened in shock, "Your dad is You-Know-Who?" He asked finally, Harry nodded numbly. "Uh, well, don't worry! I won't judge you any different because of it," Ron reassured him after a moment, "You're not at all like your father, don't worry," he added.

At that moment, the door burst open once again, and in stepped the blonde headed Malfoy, "Hello again mudblood," he sneered at Harry, Harry held back a laugh.

"Oh look at this!" Malfoy added, looking over at Ron and Griffith, "A blood traitor and a halfblood as well!" he exclaimed.

"Well, filth, I thought I'd take the disgusting duty upon myself to inform you we will be arriving soon," Malfoy told them, then he exited the compartment.

As soon as he left, all three of them burst out laughing, Ron looked at Harry, "If only bloody Malfoy knew just who he was calling a mudblood and what it implied!" He said between chuckles.

After that, they each grabbed their trunks and Ron quickly put Woody back in his small cage. Then they set off on the long treck to get off of the train. Harry sighed aloud, but no one really seemed to mind. Harry stepped off the train to see humongous man with an untidy beard waving first years onto the boats. Harry supposed it was Hagrid, as Severus had sometimes complained about him being a 'big fat oaf', Harry grinned at the thought of Severus, then frowned when he remembered something his father had mentioned. Apparently Severus was greatly biased towards Slytherins, which was good, but would likely mean the man wouldn't treat Harry well.

"Well come on then! Firs' years on ter the boats!" Hagrid told them, Hagrid put the mudblood, Griffith, and Ron onto a boat with himself, and Harry was stuck on a boat with the Malfoy, a fat looking stupid kid, and a somewhat pudgy nervous looking boy whom Harry assumed was Neville.

Harry stepped onto the boat, Neville was busy and hadn't noticed him yet, but Harry was certain the moment he saw him he'd freak out. Draco had a humongous smirk on his face, and was trying to act like all of this, the castle and the lake, weren't completely amazing. Harry leaned over the edge of the boat with his mouth gaping open, he didn't exactly like the position, but it made him seem more innocent.

Harry turned back inwards just in time for Draco to make a report, "Well if it isn't the mudblood again! It's such a pleasure" He said, voice dripping with sarcasm. This caused Neville to look up, fear appearing on his face as he saw Harry.

Draco watched with amusement as Neville flashed out his wand in front of him, "YOU? W-What do y-you want? W-why did you d-do it?" He stuttered, his hand shaking, Harry looked at him with shock.

"What? I don't even know you!" Harry exclaimed, Draco had somehow managed to smirk wider as he watched.

"Y-you KILLED THEM!" Neville roared, Draco looked at Harry in shock, seemingly a bit alarmed before he covered it with a smirking mask, "YOU'RE A MONSTER! Y-YOU CAN'T TAKE ANYONE ELSE! I-I WON'T LET YOU!" He exclaimed.

Harry jumped to his feet, "I didn't kill anyone! What're you talking about?" He exclaimed.

Neville degraded to whimpering once again, and started sobbing, "You going to take me to join my parents? Son of the devil?" He asked. Draco finally seemed to realize what Neville was saying.

Harry widened his eyes in 'shock' "M-my brother did this? My stupid brother? I-I'm sorry! Oh I'm so sorry," Harry told him, after a moment he added, "I'm… um well I guess I'll have to tell you, I'm the weaker of the Dark Lord's twins."

Draco was sitting stock still on the bench, he was extremely confused, "But you can't be the Dark Lord's son! You're a mudblood!" He exclaimed.

"I'm not," Harry sighed, "Up to the age of five, I lived with my brother and parents, my brother, my own twin blamed me for everything!" Harry started, he was actually telling the truth, which added to the fun of it. "Mother and Father, oh they adored my brother! They thought he was the center of the world, my birthday is the day after his, but they never remembered! On my fifth birthday, my father a-and I went out, I thought he might have remembered me for once, but no. He did something with my memories, I can't really remember anything about them except for the experiences. Then he left me at an orphanage, an orphanage!I-I was a freak there! A piece of trash!" At this point Harry broke down in exaggerated sobs.

Draco seemed to feel much better about himself, having come to the conclusion Harry was very much disowned. Neville now was looking at Harry with pity after hearing the horrible life he'd had, "I'm sorry, I just, your brother killed my parents, and it sounds like it was only a bit after when you were abandoned. You are twins, you look exactly alike," Neville told him, he wasn't exactly the best at comforting though as Harry looked up with puffy red eyes.

Suddenly the boat bumped against the shore, Draco quickly got out, dusting off his robes and shooting a glare at Harry. Harry regrouped with Ron and Griffith, who were discussing professional Quidditch Teams. Hagrid led all the first years through the huge entrance to the top of some stairs, there a stern looking professor stood.

"Thank you Hagrid, you may go now," She instructed, Hagrid nodded and left. "I am Professor McGonagall, I am Gryffindor's Head of House. Here at Hogwarts, there are four houses you can be sorted with, this will determine where you sleep at night. These houses are organized according to personality. Other members of your house will become a family of a sort for you all," the Professor told them.

Then she led them into the huge dining hall, the Great Hall, Harry labeled it. He looked at the spelled ceiling and the four houses. They walked up and McGonagall told them to come up when she called their name.

"Potter, Griffith!" She called eventually.

The hall erupted in whispers, kids leaned to try and see his famous scar, Harry rolled his eyes. The hat sat on the boy's head for only a few seconds before calling out his house.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled.

Harry droned out the rest of the sorting until his name was called. McGonagall looked afraid for a second, before covering it, "Riddle, Praet!"

Harry stepped up onto the platform, and felt as the hat set onto his head.

 _Oh my, hello Mr. Potter._

 **AN Hehehehhe! A few decisions I've come to about Harry's Hogwarts experience is that generally I won't put whether his emotions are genuine or not because it would get a little repetitive. Also, the way I pronounce Praet is (Pray-eh-T) or it could be pronounced like (Pray-it) Hmm… which one do you think I should go with?**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	9. The Gryffindorms and Potions!

**AN Hello! I'm back with chapter nine! Can't think of anything else to put here, so to the story!**

 _Oh my, hello Mr. Potter,_ the hat exclaimed as it roamed his mind.

 _Sort me Gryffindor, seeing as you can mind read, I think you won't have any trouble knowing what will happen if you didn't_ Harry thought.

 _Seeing as I really do need to be able to sort others in the future, I believe I agree. Gryffindor was my second choice for you anyways, and I'm bound to respect requests._ The hat told him.

 _What! I'm not normally a Gryffindor piece of filth!_ Harry exclaimed in his mind, _But please do sort me in that disgusting house._

 _Very well, I will put you in_ "GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted the last word aloud.

Harry took the patched hat off of his head and walked down to Gryffindor table. He sat next to Griffith, who gave him a grin, Harry was surprised to see that the mudblood girl with dead bush hair was at the end of the table studying a book. Ron soon joined them. Then Dumbledore stood up and made a very short and pointless speech of random words. Ron practically inhaling food, Harry watched as the boy shoved food in his face. Harry gave himself a scoop of mashed potato, a large piece of chicken, and a buttered roll. The Weasley hadn't even bothered to use the plate, instead having eaten directly off the plate. Harry took note of the fact the boy ate mainly the meat. Harry also noticed as one of the smaller plates refilled after being emptied. Looking up at the staff table, Harry took note of each teacher, Lily Potter was a Muggle Studies professor, while James Potter was the flying instructor. His eyes settled on Severus for a moment, before moving on to the Defense professor. The man was extremely jumpy, when Severus handed him a goblet of wine, the man swat it away like it was poison, getting it all over Severus. The Professor also was glancing all around the room like any moment a flock of dragons might burst in.

Dumbledore motioned the professor to him,"I'm happy to announce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, this is Professor Quirrel. On another note, Filch has informed me that there have been additions to the banned items lists, being in possession of any of these items will cost you a week of detention. The complete list is posted outside of his door, ignorance of this list is not an excuse," he informed them.

After a while, they all left their tables and the prefects led them to the common room through a portrait. Harry noted that the password was Honor, and looked around at the glittering room. As soon as he stepped in, he noticed the two Weasley twins walk up to him. The one on the left had a blank piece of parchment in his pocket. The two of them stood in front of him with judging looks on their faces.

"Um, hi?" Harry said after a minute of silence.

"Hello! We're Gred"

"And Forge."

"We'd like to ask"

"You a question."

"You see"

"We have this artifact,"

"That is supposed to"

"Show people's names,"

"But you show up,"

"As Tom Riddle,"

"Junior instead!" The two exclaimed.

Harry looked at them, "Tom Riddle you say? That was my father's name?" Harry asked.

"Apparently it is"

"Your father's"

"Name."

"What did you mean"

"By was your father's name?" They asked.

"Well," Harry looked contemplative for a moment, "Guess it's better you find out who he is from me."

"Is Tom Riddle"

"Someone important?"

"Does he happen"

"To go by a different name?" Fred and George asked.

"Y-yeah. You see, my father happens to be one of the, uh, most powerful wizards of the time," Harry started, he opened his mouth but they spoke again.

"You're dad"

"Is Albus Dumbledore?"

"That's just wro-" They started.

"No! I mean, ugh, my father is You-Know-Who," Harry whispered.

Their eyes widened, they stumbled back for a second, got a puzzled, then amused expression on their faces, "You-Know-Who"

"Went by the name of Tom Riddle"

"And Riddle definitely isn't"

"A Pureblood surname"

"Which means,"

"That the Dark Lord famous for killing"

"Those with muggle blood"

"Is a half blood"

"Or a muggleborn!" They exclaimed, luckily no one noticed their loud exclamations.

Harry chuckled, "I never thought about that," he told them.

After saying goodbye to the Weasley twins, Harry turned to go up the stairs to the hall that held the boy dorms. He noticed a small door, and upon noticing it, he opened it up. Inside there was a small room with only a single bed. He grinned, with his own room, it would be so much easier to apparate to and from Riddle Manor without getting noticed, all he needed to do was put up a silencing charm and movement ward in so that no one could enter without him getting warned. He looked around the room, it was extremely dusty, apparently most Gryffindor's preferred space over privacy. He snorted. Harry grabbed his quill and wrote a quick note and lodged it so that it was partially poking out of two of the planks making the door. It was just a note saying the Praet Riddle had claimed the room.

Harry trotted down the hall and found the room that Griffith, Ron, a boy named Seamus, and another boy named Dean all were agreeing to share. Harry rolled his eyes at the thought of that many people sharing the same room. The room was around five times the size Harry's was, although Harry intended to cast a few enlarging charms on it. Griffith and Ron were on beds almost right next to eachother. Griffith turned towards Harry when he entered. Griffith had a guilty look on his face, and it took Harry a second to realize the boy felt bad for not saving him a bed.

Griffith confirmed his suspicion a moment later, "Sorry I didn't save a bed for you Praet," he said.

Harry waved him off, "It's okay, I found a cute little room that's for a single person, it's a little dirty, but I think it'd be perfect to practice a few cleaning charms and such on," he explained.

"Oh cool," Griffith responded lamely, then he looked at the clock, "Well it's getting late, I'm pretty sure we'll get our schedules in the morning, I think I'll be getting to bed," he told everyone.

Harry nodded, he wasn't tired yet, but he went to his room and locked the door behind him. Looking around, Harry found a torch that might have been charmed to stay alight once, but had since gone out. Harry quickly cast a light charm on it, and watched as the room brightened up. It really was quite small, but Harry had no doubt he could at least double the size with a few enlarging charms. Harry looked at the floor, quickly cleaning the dust off the floor to reveal a few scattered items and a few webs. Another wave of his wand and the room looked relatively okay, although the bed had a few tears on the sheets, the preservation charms on the wood had been suitable. After repairing the bed, Harry pushed his trunk to the base of his bed and plopped down onto it. Harry noticed that his magic reserves hadn't been majorly depleted, and put as much power as he could into making the room larger. To his surprise, the room at least tripled in size, making it into a respectfully sized room. Feeling the deplete in his magic, Harry lay down on his bed and immediately fell asleep.

The next morning, Harry bounced up, magic reserves refreshed and ready for his first day of Hogwarts education. Although he was certain it would be easy, he was still excited to see how the teachers taught. Walking towards the door, Harry grabbed a note that had been pushed through, reading his schedule. About half of his classes were with Slytherin, not that it made him unhappy but it seemed irrational to put the rival houses in the same classes. Today, he had Potions with the Slytherins in the morning, then he had History of Magic after lunch. He would be done for the school day at three-thirty pm. Classes started at nine o' clock, and he would have to endure three hours of Severus not recognizing him. Then he had a thirty minute lunch and History of Magic.

After eating a quick breakfast with Griffith and Ron, they headed to potions Harry sat to the right of Griffith, and to the left of the annoying bushhead. Severus had not entered the room yet, and Harry saw Draco smirking at him. Harry honestly didn't understand why the boy disliked him so much, but he bet it had something to do with him being in a rival house. Suddenly, the door of the room opened, and Severus practically swooped in, looking at the students.

Crossing his arms, he started to speak in a soft voice, yet everyone was able to hear it,"You are here to learn the subtle science and the art of potion-making. There will be no foolish wand-waving here, so put your wands away. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the extreme power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death," Severus informed them, "if you all aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach," he added as an afterthought.

Harry held back a chuckle, at least now he knew that Severus was normally like this around children, not just Harry. Although Severus seemed a bit more confident and ready to insult others in the classroom. It was likely because in Riddle Manor, Severus was babysitting a boy who likely had more power than he. Harry also noted the obvious passion of which Severus had for potions. He wondered why the man had continually tried to get the Defense position, as he seemed to enjoy potion making more. Severus quickly went through attendance, pausing for a fraction of a second when he came upon Harry's name. Only Harry and the other Slytherins noticed though, and looking at them he realized that Draco hadn't kept his information to himself.

Severus's attention snapped onto Griffith, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Griffith's eyes widened, then he scowled at Severus, "I don't know," he responded after having looked to Ron for help. Harry looked at deadbush, whom had shot her hand in the air immediately, a pathetic eager look on her face.

"Fame clearly isn't everything Mr. Potter," Severus spoke softly.

Harry watched as Severus prepared to ask another question, although he had to admit that question was a bit hard, but it wasn't something Griffith wouldn't know if he'd read the entire book even once over.

"Well then Mr. Potter, can you tell me where I could find a bezoar?" Severus asked.

Harry winced as Griffith had a puzzled look on his face, it was such an obvious answer. Deadbush's hand was stretched so high into the air that she was leaning with it. Harry looked at her disgustedly and noticed Draco and his two bodyguards looked shocked at Griffith's ignorance as well. Harry silently and wandlessly sent a stinging spell at Deadbush, watching as she lowered her hand to rub her side for a moment, before sending her hand back up again. Severus had a nasty sneer on his face.

"I don't know, sir" Griffith responded, Draco was chuckling quietly to himself.

"So you thought you could get away without reading the book before class hm Potter? I thought with all your special training you'd know the basics of potion making," Severus sneered at the boy.

Griffith had a mad look on his face, Harry held back a smile and leaned back, this was going to be entertaining. Harry was correct, an instant later, Griffith stood up quite suddenly, causing the water-filled and boiling water to splash over both Severus and Griffith. The latter let out a high-pitched squeak as the hot water came in contact with his skin. Severus quickly banished the water.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your clumsiness Mr. Potter, now one last try, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Severus asked. Harry smiled a tad, hiding it behind his hand oh how he loved a trick question.

Deadbush stood up, arm stretching towards the ceiling, she was also was waving it a bit. Neville looked like he wanted to help Griffith, but didn't know how to get the message across. All the Slytherins were staring at Griffith expectantly, but all Griffith could do was give a hopeless shrug.

"I don't know," Griffith growled, his face starting to redden with anger, "Unlike some people, I don't find potions an important enough subject to waste my precious time on, Snivellus," Griffith added.

Neville let out a small gasp in the back, fearing for Griffith's life. However, Severus seemed to take it without a care. Instead, Severus locked his cold almost black eyes with Griffith's. Then, he turned away.

"Twenty points for neglecting to learn the basics of the subject and insulting a teacher, to you I am Professor Snape, you will also serve detention with me tonight, I expect to see you after dinner," Severus told Griffith. Turning back towards the class, "The answer is to the first question is that it is used to make a potion called the Draught of Living Dead, a powerful sleeping potion. You could expect to find a bezoar in the stomach of a goat. Lastly, monkshood and wolfsbane are different names for the same plant," Severus informed them, looking expectant, "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

Everyone rushed for their quills and scrolls. Then with a wave of his wand, a set of instructions to brew a cure for boils appeared on the blackboard, "Get brewing, at the end of class I will judge your potions," Severus instructed.

Harry immediately grabbed all the ingredients needed, six snake fangs, four horned slugs, and two porcupine quills, he was partnered with Deadbush, he handed her the snake fangs to crush while he observed the rest of the instructions. After a minute, he turned, she had crushed them decently well, but seemed aware it wasn't good enough yet. Harry took the pestle away from her and proceeded to viciously smash the fangs into an extremely fine powder. He then had Deadbush pour four measures into the cauldron. As she did that, he cast a tempus that only he could see, and it ticked down to the millisecond. He heated it up to 250 degrees for exactly 10.013 seconds. Then Deadbush waved her wand over it and Harry set up a timer for 33 minutes. Then he got to work on the homework, in which he had to do a foot about the potion and the specifics about the ingredients.

After 33 minutes, Harry checked on the potion, it was supposed to have a yellowish tint to it when it was ready to add the four horned slugs, then it would turn a light orange color. Harry quickly compared that color of the potion to the example in the book, it was still a little too light. About four minutes later, it was the perfect shade of yellow and Harry quickly added the horned slugs. Then he took it off the fire and added the two porcupine quills. He watched as it turned a light reddish-brown color, reminding him of strawberry-chocolate milk. Then he let Deadbush carefully stir it five times clockwise. Suddenly, he heard a yelp and looked up to see that Neville's cauldron had melted and green smoke was emitting from it as the bright orange potion creeped across the floor. Harry quickly lifted his feet off the floor and onto the foot spot on the chair. Severus vanished the potion and cauldron, turning to glare at Neville.

"Idiotic brat! You added the porcupine quills without turning off the fire," Severus exclaimed, "Ten points from Gryffindor for ruining a perfectly good cauldron."

Severus seemed completely ignorant to the huge boils on Neville's face and the obvious pain he was in. Looking around, Harry raised his hand to signal he and Deadbush were done. Severus scowled and walked over to the cauldron, after inspecting it for a moment, he bottled it and set it on the shelf.

"Congratulations, you actually managed to correctly brew this basic potion," Severus drawled, Harry could tell the man had wanted to insult them or find a fault, but could not.

Harry smirked privately then continued his homework. The rest of class went fairly quick, with Severus taking another fifty or so points from Gryffindor and awarding Slytherins for mediocre potions. Neville succeeded in making a potion that after a minute of looking at it someone could probably figure out it was an attempt at a boil remover, which was likely a success in his eyes. The boy was certain to get a D or T in potions. Eventually class ended, and Harry headed to the Great Hall with Griffith.

-=After Potions=-

Severus was frightened at how much Praet Riddle reminded him of the Dark Prince. All the other teachers seemed to think the two boys couldn't be more different, but Severus had seen the nicer (if that was possible) side of the Dark Prince. The fact was, that as twins they reacted to emotions in the almost exact same way. The two both got bored easily and were perfectionists, also, they had trust issues sometimes. Severus had no doubt that Praet was a powerful wizard, although not as much so as his brother. It didn't help that the two looked the exact same, and when Severus first saw the boy he had trouble resisting shivering. Lastly, if they had been raised together, they would likely have been the same, the differences were likely based on how they grew up. Praet had no mask whatsoever and was extremely honest to an annoying extreme, while his brother was opposite.

 **AN So Severus is scared by Harry! Hehehe! Next chapter is going to be a brief description of History of Magic ('cause no one really likes that class!) and the time after that. Then we'll go into the next day. Cya!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	10. Flying Lessons

**AN Hello again readers! Thank you for the support for the story, it's crazy! Also, I do read the reviews, I'm just lazy and only reply to direct questions. Then I look back and realize someone asked a question that I could have replied to last chapter, woops. Anyways, for the thing about the Potters not recognizing Harry is because A. He's changed a bit over seven years, B. He's thought to be dead (Which I'll get to explaining at some point in the future because I do have a reason for that!). Okay, now onto chapter ten! Into the double-digits for the chapters!**

History of Magic was a complete joke, Harry concluded as he left the classroom. If a ghost for a teacher wasn't bad enough, everyone could likely come to class in nothing but hot pink underwear and the professor wouldn't even notice. The teacher had died and not even noticed. Half the class had fallen to sleep, as the other half (All Ravenclaws) somehow managed to listen intently. Harry caught the basis of what it was about, the 1612 goblin rebellion and that it happened in Hogsmeade. Deadbush managed to copy down every word that Professor Binns said without even spacing out for a second. Near the end of class, Harry had used magic to copy her notes, as apparently the mudblood did have her uses. He was trying to figure out why she wasn't in Ravenclaw, but so far had failed to come up with a reason other than her threatening the hat like he did.

Griffith had received a note from Hagrid that the man would like to meet Griffith at some point. Griffith had pocketed it, saying he would think about it later. Harry got a paper from the Daily Prophet, and read about a robbery that had happened around the time he was shopping with Dumbledore. They hadn't stopped at Gringotts because the old wizard had plenty of money in his pouch, but Griffith had also gone there that day. Harry walked exited his room, walking a short ways down the extremely red hallway to Griffith's door. He raised his hand and knocked. He heard footsteps approach and a one of Griffith's roommates, whom Harry was pretty sure was the halfblood, Seamus Finnigan.

"Yes?" Seamus asked, looking up slightly as Harry was taller than him, "Oh, Griffith's not here right now, I think he's in the common room."

Harry smiled and turned towards the stairs, walking down them quickly. In the common room, Harry found Griffith and Ron hunched over a table with a game of wizards chess on the table. Although Harry didn't play the game often (Severus refused to play it with him, and he didn't even actually know how to play) it was obvious that Weasley was winning. Harry silently stood behind Griffith and watched as the red-brown haired boy was demolished by Ron. When Griffith finally turned around, he nearly jumped a foot in the air when he saw Harry directly behind him.

"How long were you there!" Griffith exclaimed.

Harry shrugged, "Not too long, but long enough to see you get destroyed, good job Ron!" Harry said, giving Ron a double thumbs up. "Anyways, I came down to see if you saw anyone going into Gringotts when you went shopping on July 31st?" Harry asked, holding out the robbery article on the Daily Prophet.

"Um, well the only person I recognized other than my parents was Hagrid, do you think he had something to do with the robbery?" Griffith asked after scanning over the paper.

"Dunno, didn't Hagrid invite you to his hut though? We could find out," Harry proposed.

"Why not!" Griffith said smiling, Ron huffed.

"You don't want to play another game then?" Ron asked.

"Nah, wizard chess is a stupid game anyways, you could come to Hagrid's with us if you want," Griffith told him, Ron huffed once again.

"Well, guess I'd better come along then," Ron agreed.

"Great!"

-=Hagrid's Hut=-

The house that Hagrid lived in was very small for a man his size. It was located on the edge of the woods. If Harry didn't know the man, he would be slightly frightened, as a crossbow was leaning against the wall and a bag hanging near it. Griffith raised his hand and knocked loudly. Immediately, vicious barking was heard behind the door, and it sounded like something was trying to get through. Being Gryffindors though, neither Griffith nor Ron looked particularly afraid. Harry was slightly frightened, but he doubted that anything Hagrid could keep in his house would be something all that hard to fight.

A moment later, they could hear a chair screech as it was pushed back, and Hagrid's voice could be heard through the door, "Back yerself up Fang," Hagrid ordered his the animal behind the door. Then he opened up the door, a big smile appearing on his face, Harry noted that the barking must have been coming from the huge black dog now laying on the floor.

"Hello Hagrid, I got your note, I hope you don't mind that I brought friends?" Griffith asked.

"No worry! I would love ter meet yer friends, 'ello, what's yer names?" Hagrid asked, looking at Harry and Ron.

"I'm Ron," Ron told him with a strained smile, looking at Fang, who had just stood up and was looking at them with a frightening kind of interest.

"Another Weasley? Hope you aren't like yer two brothers, have 'nough trouble keeping the two o' them away from ter forest," Hagrid joked merrily, then turned to Harry, "Well then, what's yer name?"

"I'm Praet," Harry told him.

Hagrid gave him a look that Harry had trouble interpreting it, but it was something like fear, "Ah, the, er Riddle boy?" Hagrid asked awkwardly, "I er, knew yer father when he was in school."

That was obviously not the best response, as Griffith's eyes widened with curiosity, "Really? What'd he do? I mean, what was he like?" Griffith asked.

"'E was quite handsome, a lot like Praet 'ere," Hagrid started, Harry winced, "O' no! Just sayin' yer look a bit like 'im when 'e was younger, you act a lot different! 'E was charmin', always masked 'is emotions and played ter nice student. 'E got me expelled when I was in me third year," he explained.

Harry cleared his throat, "Well, um, changing the subject, I was heard that you were at Gringotts when Griffith was there, what were you doing there?" Harry interrogated.

"O', I was just gettin' somethin' for Albus," Hagrid responded quickly, "How was yer first day?" he asked Griffith.

"Well we had potions and Snivellus was as biased as ever, and he really seemed to hate me, he's just jealous of my father," Griffith started.

"Rubbish!" exclaimed Hagrid, "Why would 'e be?"

"Well, in school Snivellus was rivals with my dad and he obviously is jealous of how awesome my dad is. My dad's got a wife, a son, and an awesome job!" Griffith told him.

"I doubt it's that bad," Hagrid said, turning away from Griffith to Ron, "How's yer brother Charlie doin'?" He asked.

Ron opened his mouth and Harry zoned out as he talked about his brother, although Harry noted that he was supposedly a dragon tamer. Harry half listened as Ron started talking about what his other brother was doing, as some sort of adventurer or something. Suddenly Harry turned to Ron.

"Hey Ron, has Charlie ever ridden a dragon?" Harry asked, Ron looked at him dumbfounded.

"Of course not! Dragons don't let people ride them ever intentionally. The only time someone might be able to ride a dragon without getting chucked off is if the dragon had something it deemed more important on its mind," Ron exclaimed, Harry gave him a small smile.

"Oh, okay," he responded, "Hagrid, what exactly did you empty out of that vault?"

Hagrid looked at the floor, "Oh, er, nothin' important. Well, it's gettin' late, yer better get goin'" he told them, then practically shoved them all out.

They walked silently a little ways before Harry turned to Griffith, "I think it's safe to say that Hagrid's hiding something. What do you say we try to find out what?" Harry asked.

"Yeah! I wonder if whatever that thief wanted is here at Hogwarts!" Griffith grinned mischieviously, "Want to try to get it? I mean, it must have some defences, and if we could get through them…" he started.

Harry grinned and finished for him, "then they obviously need to be upgraded! It's perfect!" Harry exclaimed, Ron grunted.

"Don't mind me, just standing over here," Ron complained, Harry rolled his eyes.

The castle halls were relatively empty when they entered, with only a few students bustling about. They waited for the stairs to rotate the way they needed before climbing quickly up the stairs to the common room. The fat lady in the portrait quickly swung open when they said the password, and they entered the common room. The room was bustling with activity, all the tables were taken and a few people were playing games on the floor. Harry watched with amusement as a card in a game of Exploding Snap exploded in one of the player's faces. The clock at the end of the room said it was around five o' clock. Harry went to his room while Griffith and Ron went to their shared one.

Harry apparated to Riddle Manor, looking around. It was likely the Dark Lord was away still, but there was a chance he'd gotten back, "Friz!" Harry called, the elf appeared in front of him with a loud crack.

"Yes young master?" She asked.

"Is my father here?" Harry asked, looking at the dirty elf in front of him.

"Yes young master, would you like me to take you to him?" Friz asked.

"No, where is he?" Harry asked.

"He's in the brewery at the moment, Mister Snape is there as well," Friz told him.

"That is all," Harry dismissed her, then set off towards the brewery.

"Ah, yes, Praet was a weakling, I couldn't let such a pathetic child to stay here where I would have to look at him every day," the Dark Lord told Severus as Harry entered.

Harry carefully masked his emotion, "Father," he acknowledged with a deep bow, "Are you talking about my dear brother?" he sneered.

"Yes, Severus here was asking about how he and his snakes are allowed to act around the boy. I kindly told him he could treat the boy just as well as he treats the Potter boy," the Dark Lord responded cooly.

"So the boy is unimportant?" Severus asked.

"Mhm, be sure to give him a greeting from me, I think a few torture curses would fit well," Harry smiled evilly, he turned to the Dark Lord, " _My lord, can we really not tell him of my identity at Hogwarts?_ " Harry hissed.

" _No, if he were to know he would treat you much differently, and it would become too obvious and the old fool might suspect something,"_ the Dark Lord warned, the tone in which he spoke told Harry that was the end of the discussion.

Severus looked visibly nervous as he watched the two converse in parseltongue, it was a very interesting expression on his normally scowling face. After about a minute, the Dark Lord looked at him again.

"Severus, have any of your seventh year snakes shown potential to become Death Eaters?" the Dark Lord asked.

"Only one pureblood my lord, the son of Thorfinn Rowle," Severus told him, kneeling.

"Ah, yes, any others? Halfbloods or nearly purebloods?" the Dark Lord pressed.

"A halfblood girl named Viara Crow is quite ruthless, but is a bit rebellious, something that could cause a problem," Severus responded.

"Do you doubt my ability to control a weak child?" the Dark Lord asked.

"No m-" Severus started.

" _Crucio!_ " the Dark Lord cast, Severus immediately fell to the floor, his jaw clenched and a tear of pain starting to form in his eye. After a few seconds, the Dark Lord canceled the spell, "Continue."

"Yes my lord, there is one more, his name is Aran Shafiq, although his father was disowned from the family for marrying a halfblood," Severus added, "Sadly, the other snakes seem to have squeamish stomachs when it comes to torturing or murdering another."

"Very well, you may now return to Hogwarts," the Dark Lord ordered, Severus nodded and left the room. The Dark Lord turned to Harry, "Why did you come here?"

"I was just wondering if there were any missions I could participate in my lord," Harry asked.

"As I've told you before my Prince, you must focus on your education, and becoming trusted by the fools of the Light" the Dark Lord refused.

Harry held back a gulp as he tried again, "Well right now things are easy, my lord, and no one suspects a thing. I just need something to do, I need to hurt someone or something, it's been too long," Harry tried.

To his surprise, the Dark Lord nodded, "Very well, get yourself a timeturner, I don't care how, and I will consider letting you join in on a raid, perhaps during Winter Break," the Dark Lord agreed.

Harry nodded, hiding the excitement he felt, "Thank you my lord," he thanked.

"Now, get back to Hogwarts before any of those brats notice you're missing," the Dark Lord ordered.

"Yes my lord," Harry responded, bowing before he apparated away.

-= Later that Week (Thursday) =-

"Hey Praet! Look at this, we have our first flying lesson today!" Griffith exclaimed the moment Harry opened his door Thursday morning.

Harry rubbed his eyes, he'd stayed up until midnight observing the layout of the Department of Mysteries that he had acquired from Riddle Manor. He'd also looked at a few pictures so he could pinpoint exactly where he would need to apparate to to get a timeturner. It would likely take him most of the day to get it done, which was why he had been practicing his ability to duplicate magical artifacts. He planned on doing it in about a week in the future. Griffith was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Oh that's interesting, we also have our first Defense class today, which is bound to be interesting as I've heard Professor Quirrell's entire room smells like garlic," Harry responded sarcastically.

"My dad teaches flying lessons! C'mon, if we go eat real quick we'll be able to talk to him a bit before class," Griffith added enthusiastically, grabbing Harry by the hand and dragging him to the common room, where Ron was waiting.

"There you two are! Let's go eat! I'm starving," Ron told them.

Then the trio exited the common room and headed towards the Great Hall. It was seven thirty and the Hall was set with food from seven thirty to eight fourty-five. A few Hufflepuffs were already eating and some Ravenclaws were exchanging books while they ate. The seventh year Slytherins were all there and the sixth year ones were just entering. Harry, Ron, and Griffith were the only Gryffindors eating yet. Harry sat down on Griffith's left side while Ron sat on his right. Then Ron grabbed a huge chocolate breaded and chocolate frosted donut. Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed a piece of toast, some eggs, sausage, and a few fresh strawberries. Apparently both Ron and Griffith had settled for very unhealthy breakfasts.

"I'm interested to see what happens today. We're with Slytherins and I doubt Malfoy is nearly as good as he claims he is, I can't imagine the look on his face when Praet outplays him," Griffith chatted, Ron looked at Harry.

"Praet's good on a broom?" He asked.

"Praet's like a god on a broom!" Griffith said, "Don't tell my dad I said so, but I think Praet is going to be better than he is," he added in a lower voice.

Ron looked at Harry in awe, Harry smiled a little bit, "You're exaggerating Grif, I'm not that good," Harry responded, using Griffith's nickname.

Ron looked back at Griffith, who looked at him and smiled, "Just wait until flying lessons, you'll see."

The majority of Slytherin had flooded in now, as well as the Gryffindor first years, who were either excited or worried about the flying lesson. Deadbush was trying to find out how to fly from a book, and Neville seemed sure that he was going to fail. Dean and Seamus were both excited about flying, as Seamus told Dean everything his mother had told him about flying, including boastful stories of when he'd gone flying when he was younger. Griffith had told a few boastful stories as well, but he also stood by the fact that Harry was a much better flyer than himself. Even Ron told a story of a time when he road on one of his brother's brooms. They all left the hall right after letters were delivered. Neville had gotten a remembrall and Griffith got a few chocolate frogs.

They got to flying class fifteen minutes early and walked over to greet James Potter, "Hey dad!" Griffith said.

"Hello Prongslet, look at you guys, you're gonna be the next Marauders I'm sure!" he exclaimed, ruffling Griffith's hair with his hand.

"Daddd!" Griffith whined, flattening his hair again.

"Well, since you're first, I guess you get to choose the broom you want to ride," James told them, "Lily and I bought new Cleansweep Sevens for all students because I couldn't bare looking at those old brooms."

Harry walked over to one of of the brooms, it looked somewhat crude, but Harry knew from Griffith and Ron that it was a high-quality broom, although the Nimbus 2000 was the best. By now, the other students were starting to come in. Harry saw Draco walk up to the right of one of the brooms, and cast a smirk at Harry. Harry glared right back at him, he couldn't wait until he learned Legilimency, then he could replay Draco's worst memories in front of him over and over much like a dementor. This caused Harry to smile, changing his outright anger into a scary look. Griffith was watching as Draco and Harry had a staredown. Harry was annoyed at the Malfoy, and was having trouble not cursing the boy or revealing his real identity in any other way. Harry was unaware, but accidental magic was slowly creeping through Draco, making the blonde boy become very cold on the already slightly chilly day. The moment Draco realized, he gasped and his glare turned to one of fear. Harry realized what he'd done, and quickly faked a gasp of horror and looked down at his hands.

Griffith had noticed as well, and wasn't sure how to comfort his friend who was clearly distraught. Luckily, James chose that moment to start class, "Hello everyone, I'm Professor Potter, Griffith's father. I will be your flight instructor for the rest of the year. Please stand to the left of your broom, reach out your right hand, and say 'Up' as clearly as possible," James instructed.

Everyone matched up with a broom, and all of the muggleborns of the class looked nervous and excited. Harry held his right hand over the broom, "Up!" he commanded, watching as the broom flew into his hand. Only Griffith, Draco, and some other Slytherin Harry didn't recognize got it on the first try. About half the people got it on their second try, but Deadbush and Ron couldn't seem to get it up. When Ron spoke, sometimes the broom would flutter upwards for a second then fall, although once it hit him in the face. Deadbush's broom just wiggled a bit. Neville had managed to get his into his hand after a few tries and looked extremely nervous.

After about a minute, James spoke again, "Okay, if you don't have your broom in your hand yet, just lean down and grab it, and you all need to mount your brooms," he told everyone, and watched as a few people somehow failed to even get on right, "Like this," he said, he then sat down onto his broom, "If you need to, you can also put your feet on the sides of the broom, this might make it harder to change your speed but it helps a little with balance."

Finally, everyone had managed to get on their brooms, a few looked a bit calmer than they had at the beginning of the lesson. James was also mounted on his broom and in the air, "Okay, good job so far everyone, when I say go, kick off the ground gently. Try to stay rightside up and don't lean too much in any direction, although leaning backwards just a bit will help you stay still, leaning backwards too much will make you start to go upwards more, which we don't want. Leaning slightly forward will let you descend, keeping your broom flat will cause you to go forward, and leaning forward too much will cause you to go into a dive. After hovering for a second, I want you all to come back down," James explained, "Okay, one, two-"

Neville suddenly launched high into the air having been worried about falling. Harry watched as the boy climbed high into the sky, over twenty feet up. The boy was also spinning. Harry bit his lip to hide a grin as Neville then leaned forward too much and went barreling towards the tower. James had mounted his broom and was trying to follow the boy, but the erratic movements of the broom made it extremely challenging, and he could only watch with horror on his face as Neville crashed into the tower. The front of the broom hit the tower first, then the broomstick snapped and Neville slammed into the tower and started dropping. As he fell, his shirt caught on one of the windows for a second before dropping him the remaining ten or so feet to the ground. A loud nasty crack was heard as Neville fell to the ground in a heep.

James flew quickly over to him, he quickly dismounted his broom and leaned over the boy, his face pale. He then put the boy's arm over his shoulder, "Broken tibia," he muttered as he helped the boy limp towards the castle, "None of you try to mount your brooms, I'm taking Neville to the hospital wing," he added as he reentered the castle.

Harry watched as Draco laughed with his friends about the whole thing, Harry would be laughing too if he didn't have an act to keep up, "Did you see his face? The great lump!" Draco exclaimed, his two oafs and a few other Slytherins chuckled at that.

"Shut up Malfoy," Parvati exclaimed.

"Oooohh! Sticking up for the boy?" Pansy sneered, a smirk firmly placed on her face, "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies Patil."

"Look at this," Draco said smirking, he held up Neville's remembrall so that it shined in the sun, Harry could see where this was going and sighed, "It's that stupid useless thing his gran got him!"

"Give that here Malfoy, it's not yours," Harry said quietly.

Draco just smiled nastily, "Nah, I think I might leave it somewhere for Longbottom, how about up a tree?" he asked.

Harry watched as the boy mounted his broom. The one thing Harry could benefit from this was showing off his own flying skills. Harry swung his leg over the broom and waited for Draco to fly into the air. He watched as Draco zoomed into the air and tossed the remembrall from hand to hand, "Give it here!" Harry yelled louder. Even from a distance, Draco's smirk was clear.

"Come and get it Praet!" He yelled. It was sort of funny that most of the Slytherins were on a first name basis with him because none even wanted to acknowledge his last name.

Deadbush suddenly grabbed Harry, "Don't!" She exclaimed, "You'll get us all in trouble! Professor Potter said we weren't to mount our brooms!"

Harry shrugged the mudblood off of his arm, holding back a wince from her dirty hands having touched his skin. He kicked hard off the ground and launched into the air like an arrow. He was now above Draco, he watched as the boy realized that Harry knew how to fly a broom, and he knew how to do it quite well. He heard gasps from the majority of the girls on the ground and a loud woop from Griffith, Ron was standing there gobsmacked. Harry dived towards Draco and pulled back at the last moment so that he and the boy were eye to eye. Draco looked extremely frightened.

"Malfoy," Harry snarled, "Give that remembrall to me now, or I will knock you off that broom. I'm a bit curious to see if dropping from this height will kill you," Harry added, apparently he was speaking loudly enough for others to hear from the ground, because he heard a collective amount of gasps. Harry glanced back to see that a few Death Eater's sons were extremely frightened, they had likely seen the Dark Lord's temper before and just realized Harry might have it as well.

This seemed to occur to Draco as well, but for some reason he was determined to seem brave, a Gryffindor trait, "Oh yeah?" he attempted to sneer.

Harry flattened his broom out and zoomed towards Draco, the blonde boy barely managed to move out of the way and Harry quickly did a 180 so they were facing again. A few people bellow, including Ron and Griffith, were clapping and cheering. He glared at Draco and they started to have a staredown again, but then Draco seemed to remember what had happened only about an hour earlier and looked away.

"No big oafs up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry told him quietly. As soon as this occurred to Draco.

Draco raised his hand holding the remembrall, "Catch it if you can then!" he shouted, chucking the remembrall directly towards the ground as hard as he could.

Harry saw the remembrall launch out of Draco's hand as if it was in slow motion. Harry leaned forward so that his broom was tipped almost directly towards the ground. He flattened himself against his broom and stretched toward the glittering ball. The wind whistled in his ears as he reached his right hand towards the small ball, he heard a few screams come from the crowd of student. Harry watched as the ground rose up towards him, ten feet, he could almost touch the remembrall. Five feet from the ground, Harry stretched, the ball touching his finger tips, almost there. Only a few inches above the ground, Harry managed to snatch the small glass ball, he leaned backwards as much as possible, and felt the broom vibrate slightly as the tail brushed the grass. He raised the hand that had the remembrall in it. Then he slowly floated over to where the crowd of students were waiting.

As soon as he landed, Harry saw an infuriated looking Professor McGonagall burst out of the castle, "PRAET RIDDLE!" she yelled.

He watched with a look of dread as she stormed towards him, "Never! In all my time at Hogwarts-" she started, her face was flushed, she was breathing hard and her glasses were flashing angrily, "How dare you! Might have broken your neck!"

Parvati Patil spoke up in defense of Harry, "It wasn't his fault Professor-"

"Be quiet Miss Patil!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, sending a quick glare at the girl that quickly silenced her.

"But the pompous-" Griffith started in defense of Harry.

"That is ENOUGH Mr. Potter. Riddle, follow me, now." Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

Harry held back a sigh, he doubted he'd be expelled, but he might get a whole years worth of detention, which would make visiting Goliath and the Dark Lord extremely challenging. He opened his mouth for a second considering defending himself, but closed it again. Considering how the Professor had responded to the others defending him, he doubted it would help. The Professor was leading him quickly down the corridor, not even checking to see if he was able to keep up. They went up the marble staircase and still the angry Professor hadn't said a word. She practically tore doors open with Harry trotting quickly behind her, a miserable look pasted onto his face. He wasn't quite sure where she was taking him, he was fairly certain this wasn't the to the headmaster's office or the Gryffindor dormitories. Perhaps she was taking him to her classroom to give him some sort of detention slip? They stopped outside of a classroom Harry was pretty sure was charms.

The Professor leaned in, "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" she asked.

Wood? Harry thought, she said it like a name, but who was Wood? And what kind of name was Wood? Harry watched as a burly fifth-year boy Harry assumed to be Wood walked out of the class looking confused.

"Follow me, you two," commanded Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood was looking at both the Professor and Harry curiously. After a minute, they came upon the door, "In here," the Professor told them, opening the door.

The room they entered looked rather barren, except for a ghost that was writing rude words on a blackboard with a piece of chalk. A single glare from the Professor sent the ghost swooping out of the classroom cursing. She slammed the door loudly behind him and turned to face Wood and Harry.

"Riddle, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I've found you a seeker," Professor McGonagall told them.

Harry held back his shock, he'd expected a detention or something, but instead the Professor seemed to be saying he should be put on the house Quidditch Team. Wood's expression of confusion from before vanished and was replaced by a look of utter delight. He turned towards the Professor excitedly.

"Are you serious Professor?" Wood asked after a moment, looking a bit sceptical.

"Absolutely," Professor McGonagall reassured him, "The boy's simply brilliant on a broom. I've never seen anything like it it, how long have you been flying brooms Riddle?" she asked.

"Um, about a month," Harry told her truthfully, shock crossed her face.

The Professor gestured to the remembrall clutched in his hand, "He caught that thing after a fifty-foot dive almost straight towards the ground," She told Wood, "Didn't even scratch himself or the broom he was riding, Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

Wood turned to Harry excitedly as if Harry was the solution to all his problems, and Harry supposed he might be, "Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Riddle?" he asked, "I'm the Quidditch captain of Gryffindor team," he quickly explained.

"Uh, I heard about it a bit when I was at Griffith's house for the last month or so, but I don't know how to play," Harry told him.

Wood seemed to ignore him, "He's just the build for a Seeker too," Wood said after examining Harry for a moment, "Light, speedy. I would normally worry about a broom, but this year we have those new Cleansweep Sevens. We might want to get him a Nimbus 2000 to give him a bit of an edge over others though."

Professor McGonagall nodded, "I will speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks," she trailed off. She looked at Harry sternly over her glasses, "I want to hear you're training hard, Riddle, or I may change my mind about punishing you," she added, Harry nodded quickly.

-=Later (Lunch Time)=-

"You're joking!" Griffith exclaimed.

Harry had just finished telling Ron and Griffith what had happened with Professor McGonagall. Ron's plate was piled high with food that he had all but forgotten about. Griffith had eaten quickly as Harry had told the them about what happened and the majority of the things Wood had told him.

"Seeker?" Griffith double checked, "But first years never- you must be the youngest house player in about-" the boy started.

"- A century," Harry finished, taking a bite of carrot. He felt particularly hungry after everything that had happened after he'd left flying lessons, "Wood told me. He also told me he expected to see me after my last class for today to explain Quidditch to me," he explained, Griffith looked like he was proud that he'd been proved right, and Ron was just sitting gaping at Harry like he was the most amazing thing in existence, "I start actual training next week, don't tell anyone though, Wood wants it to stay quiet."

The Weasley twins now came into the hall and ran over to Harry, "Well done Praet!"

"Wood told us, we're on the team too,"

"Beaters. We're going to win the"

"Quidditch cup for sure this year,"

"We haven't won since our"

"Dear brother left, but this"

"Years team is going to be"

"Brilliant! You must be very good,"

"Praet, Wood was almost"

"Jumping for joy when he"

"Was telling us about you!" They exclaimed happily, "Anyway, we've got to go,"

"Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new"

"secret passageway out of the school"

"Bet it's that one behind"

"The statue of Gregory the Smarmy,"

"That we found in our first week," they said, then walked away.

Harry turned to Griffith and Ron, "Am I the only one, or does their way of talking making your head hurt?" He asked, rubbing his head, both of them nodded.

Harry turned back to his food only to see Draco coming their way. Harry had no doubt the boy was about to rub it in Harry's face that he was going to be expelled, but Harry wasn't, so Harry was curious to see where the conversation went.

"Ah hello Praet, having a last meal before you go back to being a street rat?" Draco sneered.

"Quite a bit braver now that you've got your bodyguards, are you not?" Harry asked, it seemed that annoying Draco gained him favor with pretty much everyone in Gryffindor.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," Draco defended, "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before I suppose?" Draco sneered, smirking at Harry.

"Of course I have!" Harry exclaimed, that was true, although he'd never actually done it to the extent of having a second, "Griffith's my second, who's yours?" Harry asked.

Draco looked between Crabbe and Goyle, Harry almost laughed, he doubted either of them could cast a single spell, "Crabbe," Draco decided, "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."

When Draco was gone, Griffith turned to Harry, "How did you know what a wizard's duel was?"

 **AN Woohoooo! First extended chapter is posted, this chapter is almost double length :D. Anyways, congratulations to Inkvi for noticing that I changed the story description when I put Harry in Gryffindor! Also, feel free to tell me if this gets boring. I'm making it very closely aligned with the normal books, and if that makes it too predictable and boring tell me. Next chapter will include Defense class and likely the rest of Thursday.**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	11. Deadbush

**AN Hello! I'm back with chapter 11! Nothing to put here (Again) I cri. This chapter: Defense Against the Dark Arts!**

Harry walked into the DADA classroom and was immediately assaulted by the smell of garlic. Griffith was casting Harry odd looks, he hadn't believed Harry when he'd said he'd heard it mentioned in a book. Of course, Deadbush just had to overhear about the duel and had berated them for planning to go out in the middle of the night. It didn't help that Harry was seated much like he was in potions, he was sitting right between Deadbush and Griffith, Griffith to his right, Deadbush to his left. Harry looked at the professor at the front of the room. He had a turban on his head that he claimed was a gift for killing something. Harry seriously doubted it, as the man seemed like he wouldn't be able to kill a single pixie if it flew in front of his face and tried to steal his nose.

"H-hello c-class I'm y-your Defense Against t-the D-d-dark Arts Professor," the man stuttered, Harry frowned, the man stuttered a ridiculous amount, this was likely a stuttering record. It also made it practically impossible to understand what the man was trying to say at points.

"I-I'll j-just be s-starting t-to do at-attendance," the man stuttered, Harry blanked out until he heard the man say his name, "R-riddle, Praet," Harry snapped to attention, and he hid a smirk when he saw the man subconsciously rub his right arm, Harry marked him as a Death Eater. He wondered why the Dark Lord had placed the man there, as it was known that no Dark Arts professor lasted longer than a year.

No one else noticed at all though, and Harry tried to figure out why the Death Eater was there as the man fake stuttered through the lesson. Deadbush raised her hand and answered every question word for word from the textbook. Harry could do that if he wanted, but memorizing things didn't mean you knew them. Occlumency was extremely useful for studying, as Harry could just open up the memory of when he'd read the book. The class was extremely boring and by the end of class Harry was wandlessly and wordlessly levitating things behind the professor in boredom. Some people noticed, but they looked for someone with a wand out. At one point, Harry levitated the Professor's chair a millimeter in the air and the moment the man made a move to sit down Harry pushed it backwards and laughed with the class as the man fell on the floor.

Harry left the class with Griffith, who had seemingly forgotten about how Harry had known what a wizarding duel was. Harry, Ron, Deadbush, and Griffith all walked back to the common room. They were among the first people to appear in the room. Only a few fifth years, including Wood, were already in there. The second Wood saw Harry he jumped out of his seat and walked over.

"Riddle! Good to see you're here, let's go," Wood exclaimed, grabbing Harry by the wrist and dragging him off. Harry managed to wave goodbye to Ron and Griffith before he was out of the common room.

"Hey Wood, nice to see you too, you know, I can walk on my own," Harry told the boy after a moment.

"Oh, uh yeah! Sorry," Wood apologized, Harry smiled.

"No big deal, I'm super excited to learn about Quidditch anyways, maybe I'll actually be able to understand what Griffith and Ron are talking about most of the time," Harry told him.

The moment they stepped outside the castle, Wood led him to a box that Harry assumed held the different balls used in Quidditch. There were also two of the cleansweeps lying on the ground near the box. Wood opened the box and Harry was proved right. Inside the box, there were two brown balls that seemed to be trying to escape, Harry assumed they were the bludgers, balls that would try to attack people. There was also a big red leather ball, Harry forgot the name of it, but it was the ball that was supposed to go through the hoops. Lastly, there was a little compartment with fancy tiny doors that Harry assumed held the snitch. He knew for a fact the snitch was what he was supposed to go for.

Wood picked up the big red ball, holding it in two hands, "Quidditch is a seven vs seven game with three different kinds of balls. This, is the Quaffle. There are three chasers, who pass the quaffle and try to get it through any of the three hoops on a Quidditch pitch. I'm a keeper, my job is to guard the three hoops on our team's side and stop the enemy team from getting scores. A score of the quaffle means ten points to the team that scored," Wood explained.

"Quaffle, three chasers, keeper, hoops, ten points, got it," Harry listed.

Wood then unstrapped one of the bludgers, letting it fly into the air, "That's a bludger, a bludger will randomly shoot at a player and try to knock them off their broom. There are two beaters, they are equipped with bats and are supposed to try to keep the bludgers away from their teammates," He explained, Harry nodded and Wood tackled the bludger as it attempted to attack him once again. Once Wood had gotten it strapped back in, he opened the little doors and took out the snitch.

He handed the small golden ball to Harry, "This is the snitch, during the game, it flies around unpredictably at high speeds. You are a seeker, your job is to catch this as soon as you can. Catching the snitch ends the game and gives us one-hundred and fifty points extra. Some games have been known to last days as seekers can't get the snitch. Never catch the snitch if we're down by one-hundred fifty or more points unless the other seeker is obviously about to get it," Wood finished, Harry nodded along as he went.

"That's simple enough to understand, but I have a feeling playing the game isn't as easy as understanding the basics," Harry wondered.

"It isn't, and although I trust Professor McGonagall, I'd like to see how you fly for myself before I let you officially join the team," Wood told Harry.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Harry asked, picking up a broom after he'd given the snitch back to Wood.

Wood released the snitch into the air, "Wait a few seconds then try to get the snitch, I put it on its most challenging level, which makes it a bit harder to catch than it would be during a game. Usually though, the most important part of being a seeker is being able to spot the snitch," Wood told him, Harry smiled and nodded, his blood bond with Goliath gave him slightly better than normal eyesight, which would likely benefit him on the Quidditch pitch. "Okay, go get it!" Wood told him. Harry darted into the air in a flash, out of the corner of his eye he saw Wood mount the other broom to watch. Looking around, Harry was able to spot the snitch fairly quick, as it hadn't had much time to get away. Harry turned his broom about forty-five degrees to the left and dived towards the glittering ball. At the last moment, it dashed to the right and Harry was forced to turn and pull up at the same time. Harry leaned back so that his broom was attempting to climb and the moment he stopped falling he flew straight at the hovering snitch.

The snitch darted forward at its top speed, which almost matched the speed of Harry's broom, almost. Harry flattened himself onto his broom, his right arm stretched forward and his left arm holding the broom in a firm grip. The snitch shot upward and Harry immediately followed, he was only a few inches from reaching it. Harry placed his feet so that they were secure on the metal ring holding the thick bristles together. Then he pushed himself so that he was standing straight up on his diagonal broom. Bending his knees slightly, Harry jumped from the broom, grabbing the snitch in his right hand as his left grabbed the front of the broom before it got too far away from him. Harry took a breath and swung himself on just like he got onto Goliath.

Then Harry dived back towards the ground again where he found an amazed Wood cheering, "That was amazing Riddle! You really are better the Charlie was!" he exclaimed. Then Wood proceeded to give Harry a hard and slightly hurtful pat on the back. Wood pulled out his wand and cast a tempus, "Well, dinner's soon and then it's time for bed, so I guess we'd better head for the Great Hall," he decided.

Harry nodded and followed the boy into the castle and the Great Hall. Most of the students were already inside, and Harry quickly spotted Ron and Griffith munching away on some bread rolls. Griffith looked up and saw Harry, elbowing Ron, they both waved him over. Harry gave a double thumbs up and pasted a smile on his face. Walking over to where they were sitting, Harry plopped down on the seat to the left of Griffith. He grabbed an orange and a chicken leg before turning to talk to Griffith and Ron.

"So, I take it went well?" Griffith asked.

"Yup!" Harry said, popping the 'p'. "Wood said I was even better than Charlie!" He told them happily.

Ron frowned a tad before smiling, "That's great! I can't wait to see you at the first Quidditch game! Sadly, they start after Winter Break though," He exclaimed.

Griffith also was smiling, "I bet when you get out of school you're going to become a professional Quidditch player!" He told Harry excitedly.

Harry smiled modestly, "I'm not that good…" he said, trailing off.

"You are too that good! Next year I'm going to be a chaser and I bet you'll be catching snitches so fast there isn't time to shoot a hoop!" Griffith reassured him.

Harry grinned, "Anyways, are you all up for that duel tonight?" he asked in a lower tone after a moment.

They both nodded excitedly, "I want to see that bloody idiot make a fool of himself!" Ron exclaimed happily.

Harry grinned, "Oh don't you worry, I'm thinking about using a levitating charm called Wingardium Leviosa on his underpants," Harry chuckled, Griffith let out a laugh as well. Oh Harry would love humiliating Draco, of course, his adopted father would disapprove if Harry discredited the family of one of his Death Eaters, so Harry wouldn't make it public. Just knock Draco down a notch or two. Harry was a tad sad he couldn't use any of his favorite spells, as they all happened to be very dark magic.

"I can't wait for tonight!" Griffith told him, "It's going to be so awesome! I wonder if it will be like the duels I had with dad during my training."

-= Midnight, Gryffindor Common Room =-

"C'mon! We're going to be late!" Harry heard Griffith whisper to Ron, who was taking his time getting his robes back on.

They all crept quietly down the stairs, Harry looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was following them. A few embers were glowing softly in the fireplace, casting an eery glow on the common room, making normal objects cast long dark shadows. Harry carefully made quick steps to get across the room. He was reaching out for the door when a voice sounded behind him, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Praet!" Deadbush exclaimed. A lamp flickered on revealing a frowning Deadbush in a pink bathrobe.

"You!" Ron whisper-yelled, "Go back to bed, we're going whether you like it or not."

"I considered telling your brother," Deadbush told him, "Percy, he'd have put a stop to this recklessness. Of course, I decided you were probably going to realize what a stupid idea this was, but apparently I thought to highly of you," she snapped.

"You little-" Griffith started, but Deadbush interrupted him.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor? Do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the cup another year, but apparently you must really want it, going out in the middle of the night without permission! You'll lose all the points I earned so far this year!" She added to what she'd said before.

Harry climbed through the portrait hole, followed quickly by Griffith, then Ron. Sadly, Deadbush followed after Ron, Harry turned towards her, "Go. Away," He growled.

"I saw the award your dad got in his sixth year, I'd bet he'd be very disappointed!" She exclaimed. She had no idea what she'd just said though, and watched as the three boys looked at eachother for a second, then Harry turned to Deadbush.

"Good! I don't want to be ANYTHING like my father. And you wouldn't want me to be like him if you knew what was good for you!" He exclaimed, "Now go back to the common room, please," he commanded.

Deadbush turned towards the portrait of the fat lady only to find it was empty, she turned back to Harry, "What did your father ever do?" She asked.

Now Griffith turned to her, "You don't want to know," he said with a sigh.

Now she looked regretful, "He abandoned you didn't he? Oh I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed.

"We're already late!" Ron exclaimed, "Can we please get going?" he asked.

"Yes, we'd better," Harry agreed.

"I'm coming with you," Deadbush said after a moment.

"You are not," Ron snapped at her.

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all four of us, I'll tell him the truth," She argued.

"Shut up both of you!" Griffith exclaimed, "I heard something."

Turning around a corner, they saw Neville curled up on the floor, fast asleep. The moment they stepped toward him, he snapped awake, "Oh thank goodness you found me! I forgot the password and the fat lady wouldn't let me through and… it was horrible!" He exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down Neville!" Griffith whispered.

"The password's 'Pig snout'" Harry told the boy, "But I'm afraid the fat lady's wandered off somewhere, so it won't help you much."

"Thanks Praet, I'm glad you're more trustable than your brother," Neville sniffed.

"Good. Well, Neville, we've got to get going, see you later?" Harry asked.

"N-no!" Neville said, Harry raised an eyebrow, "I'll come with you, I don't want to be left alone. Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron lifted his arm and looked at his watch. He glared at Deadbush and Neville, "If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until both of you have been subjected to the curse of bogies Quirrel told us about."

Deadbush opened her mouth for a second, but was silenced by Harry, who was quite annoyed by their new companions. Griffith jumped ahead and set off at a quick pace down the moonlit corridors. Every moment, Harry looked over his shoulder, expecting Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they never appeared. They practically sprinted up the staircase to the third floor and tiptoed to the trophy room. Harry held his wand, Ron checked his watch.

"He's either later than we are or he chickened out," Ron whispered.

A noise in a room nearby made them jump. Harry raised his wand so that it was pointed towards the origin of the sound. A moment later he heard a voice that most definitely didn't belong to Draco.

"Sniff around my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner," they heard Filch whisper to Mrs. Norris.

Harry's eyes widened and he gestured for the others to follow him. They all silently dashed over, then ran away from where Filch's voice had sounded. Harry heard the voice sound again, but he and the others were already hurriedly running away. Griffith then waved them in a different direction and they dashed down a long gallery full of suits of armor. Harry could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville let out a frightened squeak and tried to sprint forward. Seeing as it was extremely dark though, he crashed into Ron and they toppled into a suit of armor. The armor toppled over loudly, crashing into another piece, they continued to fall with deafening clangs like dominos until the last one fell.

"RUN!" Griffith yelled, then they all took off sprinting. Griffith led them randomly corridor to corridor. Harry wandlessly cast a short-lasting silencing charm behind them. It made it so that although to them it seemed like their feet could be heard in front and behind them, Filch was unlikely to hear. At one point, they dashed through a tapestry and through a hidden corridor appearing near the charms classroom. Which they all knew was almost on the opposite side of the school as the trophy room.

"I think," Harry started, "That we lost him," he proclaimed.

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor Tower as fast as possible," Ron said.

"Malfoy tricked you," Deadbush told Harry, Harry held back rolling his eyes, if he could go back and change his decision he wouldn't. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you, Malfoy obviously tipped Filch off that someone would be in the trophy room around midnight."

"Let's go," Harry decided, ignoring Deadbush.

Sadly, it wasn't going to be that simple Harry realized. Only a moment after his declaration a doorknob rattled and a pale gray-blue form came shooting out. Harry immediately realized it was Peeves. He watched as the mischievous ghost turned towards the group. The ghost let out a squeal of delight.

"Peeves, please don't say anything, you'll get us thrown out!" Deadbush begged.

Peeves cackled, "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut, naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please," Deadbush begged.

"Should tell Filch, I should," Peeves said in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way!" Ron snapped, swiping his hand at Peeves.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Ducking under Peeves, the ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door, and it was locked.

Griffith looked back in fear, "This is it!" Ron moaned as he and Griffith tried to force the door open, "We're done for! This is the end!"

They could hear footsteps, Harry pulled out his wand, he was about to cast an alohomora, but Deadbush beat him to it, "oh, move over," she snarled, she grabbed Griffith's wand out of his hand and pointed it at the lock, _"Alohomora,"_

The lock clicked and the door swung open. They piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening. "Which way did they go Peeves?" Filch asked, "Quick, tell me!"

"Say 'please,'" Peeves teased Filch.

"Don't mess with me Peeves, now tell me WHERE DID THEY GO?" Filch thundered.

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," Peeves said in an annoying singsong voice, completely unperturbed by Filch's tone.

"All right, please," Filch said in a tone that showed he obviously didn't mean it.

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" Then they heard the sound of Peeves wooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He must think the door's still locked," Griffith whispered, "I think we'll be okay, get off Neville!" he exclaimed as Neville had been frantically tugging his robes since they'd entered the room, "What?" he asked in an annoyed voice.

Harry turned around to see a humongous cerberus standing on a trapdoor in the room with them. Harry caught a glimpse at the others, for being in the house of the brave, they all looked quite afraid. Turning towards the door, Harry swung it open. He then held it open as the others squeezed through, with one more look at the cerberus, Harry went through the door and took pleasure in silently sending a powerful dark stinging spell as he slammed the door on the dog's nose. He heard a loud whimper and held back a smirk. He then turned to the others, who were all staring at him like he was crazy.

"We are Gryffindors are we not?" he chuckled at their fearful expressions.

Griffith just shook his head and they jogged all the way back to the common room, once there, Griffith turned to Harry, "If we ever have a vote for who's the bravest, I think my vote's on you," he said.

"What do they think they're doing keeping that, that beast in a school!" Ron exclaimed, "If there was ever a dog who needed exercise it was that one, it was huge!"

Deadbush sighed and rolled her eyes, "Didn't you see what it was standing on?" she asked.

Everyone looked at her stupidly for a second before Harry spoke "A trap door," Harry said, "That Cerberus is guarding something, and I bet ten galleons it's whatever Hagrid got for Dumbledore."

"Thank you! At least someone here is observant!" Deadbush exclaimed.

"How could you look at the floor? I was too busy looking at it's three drooling heads!" Ron told them with an expression Harry assumed was horror.

"Living on the streets taught me to be observant. It's kind of like a muggle magic trick," Harry started, "In a muggle magic trick, there are two places, the place of action, where the supposed magic is happening, it's the place your eyes are drawn to. In these tricks though, the muggle of the trick is usually in the second place, the place that's hard to see and full of weird muggle contraptions."

"That's an interesting way of thinking of it," Deadbush said.  
"Well then, I think we should figure out how to get past the cer- whatever Praet said, and then we can see what it's guarding for ourselves!" Griffith exclaimed.

"No! I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed, or worse, expelled!" Deadbush exclaimed.

Harry thought about addressing her directly, it always seemed to help, it took him a minute to remember her name, "Hermione, don't you have any sense of adventure, it wasn't like we were at any real risk, there's only been one student expelled in the last fifty years," Harry told her.

"Really? What'd that student do? Oh, right! They were probably out when they weren't supp-" Deadbush started.

"Murder," Harry interrupted, "The student was found to be responsible for the death of another student."

"Oh," Deadbush responded, eyes wide. "We still could've lost points or gotten detentions though," she added. After a second, she looked at Harry, "Didn't your father receive an award for services around fifty years ago?" she asked.

Harry pretended to ignore her, Griffith stood up, "Can you please stop mentioning his father? It's a rather tender subject," He explained.

"What even did he do that was all that bad other than leave Praet at an orphanage! He likely had his reasons. Say, I looked it up, where does he work? I couldn't find his name anywhere," Deadbush said.

Harry suddenly turned back towards her, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill, "How about we do a little anagram?" Harry asked. Deadbush opened her mouth, but she saw that Harry was writing down Tom Marvolo Riddle, "Let's see, I'll put the I in the front," Harry said, writing and I and crossing out the I on riddle. "Oh look! The beginning of Marvolo works perfectly for an AM!" he added, crossing out the MA and adding it as AM next to the I. "Let's see, ah, there just happen to be the right letters for LORD!" he exclaimed in fake happiness, "How about you try Griffith?" he asked.

Griffith gulped, and took the paper, each watched as he crossed out letter after letter and put it on the bottom, when Deadbush saw the solution she gasped, "HIM? Your dad is HIM?" she exclaimed, Harry nodded sadly.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" She exclaimed, "The way you reacted to what I said before makes so much more sense," she added.

"Son of a killer and twins with a boy who ruins lives," Harry told her, glancing at Neville, who had watched the whole debacle with wide eyes and a closed mouth. "Now the only first years in Gryffindor who don't know are Dean and Seamus," he told them, "Malfoy found out on the boat ride and I think all of Slytherin knows now."

"At this rate, everyone'll know by the end of the year," Griffith added.

"Why don't we just tell everyone ourselves?" Ron suggested nervously, "I mean, it'd be better if they found out from us than someone else."

"No! They might think differently of me, or think I'll turn out like my father, I don't want to be judged from who my dad is!" Harry exclaimed.

"Well," Deadbush started, "I don't think I'll think of you any different now, although I do know how I should talk about your father," she told Harry.

"Well you're special Deadbush!" Harry exclaimed, everyone gave him a weird look, "Uh… It's a nickname I came up with, sorry."

Then Deadbush stared, "Deadbush? Really? Is that the best you could come up with? Not even like Bushy or something?" She asked, "So boys are rule breakers AND uncreative."

"Well then Bushy, how about we call you that?" Griffith asked sarcastically.

She glared at him, "No! I was just saying it was uncreative! I don't want you to start calling me names like I joined your little band of crazies!" She exclaimed.

Harry decided he'd call her Bushy from then on though, "Bushy, how ab-" He started, but she cut him off.

"I'm going to bed, and I'd recommend you do too, we do have classes tomorrow, and I'd hate to be the cause of our house losing the house cup," she growled, storming out of the room.

Harry turned to the others, "All for calling her Bushy?" he asked, raising his hand. Neville had left at some point, but everyone else (Ron and Griffith) raised their hands with evil grins on their faces. "Cool, well we'd better all get going to bed though, Herbology and Charms tomorrow, and I'd prefer not to get my hand bit off by a mad flower or whatever evil plant she'll have us working with," Harry told them, before heading to his room.

Before going to bed though, Harry quickly reviewed the layout of the ministry, then nodding to himself, he slipped into bed.

 **AN So yeah! Chapter 11! Also, I'm going to be gone on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, although I'll try to post, no promises! Next chapter is going to be the troll incident and Halloweeeeeennnnn! Yay!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	12. Halloween!

**AN Hello! Back with chapter… um, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, ah yes! Chapter number twelve! Nothing else to talk 'bout, so on to the chapter! Halloween and other stuff! (Harry age 11 and 2-3 months)**

Harry, Griffith, and Ron walked into the hall with a great bit of showing off. Harry was thinking about his stealing of a timeturner, which had been a few days ago, and had been disappointingly easy. He reached in his pocket and fingered the circular device. Harry also held his wand backwards and silently cast the spell that hid his Dark Mark. Glancing around, Harry saw that no one had noticed. Draco was still getting over the shock that the three hadn't been expelled or even actually caught by Filch. Harry had started hinting to Draco that he actually WAS the Dark Prince, but the boy was obviously not nearly as clever as Harry thought he was. Although Draco wasn't kind to Harry in school, Harry knew that they probably could have been friends if Harry had let the hat sort him Slytherin.

Harry plopped down in his normal position to the left of Griffith as they ate. They had all talked about whatever Hagrid had brought to the castle, but the only thing for certain was the object was relatively small, some size smaller than around two decimeters as it must have fit in Hagrid's pocket. With that, they assumed it was magical, as anything non magical that small would be useless, unless it was a book, but Harry doubted it was. The newly dubbed Bushy and Neville were both acting like they had never been in the third corridor and seen the cerberus, which was infuriating. In fact, Bushy hadn't even been acknowledging they existed since she'd told Harry he really should tell everyone who his father was around a week ago. Of course, it seemed that Ron thought her ignoring them was a good relief from her bossy know-it-all-ness. The trio had been planning a way to make Draco pay for not having come to the duel, and seeing as Griffith's father was a prank artist in his time, there were some creative ideas.

Harry watched as owls flooded into the Great Hall, seven owls were headed straight for him as well. He watched as six of them dropped a long skinny package in front of him and another gave him a letter. Judging by the obvious shape, Harry assumed it was a broom. Looking at the letter, Harry carefully pulled off the seal and opened the letter. He unfolded the neat folds and quickly read it.

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE

It contains your new Nimbus 2000, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at six o'clock for your first lesson with the new broom.

 _Professor M. McGonagall_

Harry smiled widely after reading the note, handing it to Griffith who read it then handed it to Ron. Ron read over the note and looked at the package, moaning enviously. Reaching out, he touched the package.

"A Nimbus 2000!" Ron exclaimed, "I've never even touched one! It's been declared by multiple newspapers and magazines to be the fastest broom of the time!" He told them.

They all got up and left for the common room immediately, hoping to open it before classes. Harry saw Draco get up as well and quickly walk to intercept them. Halfway across the entrance hall Draco succeeded in barring the way up the stairs with the help of his oafs. Draco snatched the package from Harry and Griffith's hands and quickly felt it. He smirked and looked at them with a very evil look on his face.

"That's a broomstick," he stated the obvious, throwing it back to Griffith as he obviously assumed it was Griffith's, "Thought you'd get your parents to let you sneak a broom into school did you? You'll be in for it this time, Potter, you might ignore the rules, but first years aren't allowed to have brooms," Draco sneered.

Ron turned towards Draco to brag, "It's not any old broomstick," he told him, "it's a Nimbus 2000. What did you say you've got at home Malfoy? Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned, "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league. The Nimbus 2000 is the best broom around."

"What would you know about good broomsticks Weasley?" Draco responded, although he was clearly jealous, "You and your family probably couldn't afford half of a good broomstick if you sold everything you had," he sneered.

Before Ron answered, Professor Flitwick appeared round the corner, "Not arguing boys I hope?" he asked.

"No, Malfoy just didn't understand I received a broom under special conditions," Harry responded, having taken the package back from Griffith.

Flitwick beamed at Harry then looked at Draco, "Yes, yes, it's quite alright," the Professor told Draco. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances Mr. Riddle. A Nimbus model I presume?" The man asked.

"Yes, a nice Nimbus 2000," Harry responded, holding back a smirk as he looked at the shock and horror on Draco's face, "And it's really thanks to Draco that I've got it!" He exclaimed, patting the horrified boy on the back.

Then he walked off up the stairs with Griffith and Ron, whom were both red in the face from holding in laughter. Harry assumed it was because of Draco's obvious rage and confusion as the Professor passed off his broom and said it was okay.

"It is true though," Harry told them grinning as they got to the top of the staircase, "If Malfoy hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't have ever gotten on the team…"

"So you think it's a reward for breaking rules?" Bushy asked from somewhere behind them. Harry turned to see the crazy-haired girl stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at Harry.

"I thought you were ignoring us because we're a group of no good rulebreakers," Harry said to her.

"Yes, don't stop now, I was just starting to enjoy the silence," Ron told her.

Bushy glared at them, then turned away and marched away with her nose in the air.

Harry had trouble focusing on lessons as his mind kept wandering to the slowly approaching raid and his broomstick. He hadn't visited Goliath in a while either, he noted as he watched Bushy finish their potion to perfection once again. Severus obviously couldn't decide whether to hate him or worship him for being such a great student. Harry was admittedly excited to try riding his new broom, although he'd trade it for a ride on Goliath any day. After a boring lesson of Potions followed by a lame lesson of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry and the others were headed for the Gryffindor common room as soon as Professor Quirrell dismissed them with a little more stutter than usual.

Harry had considered bugging the Dark Lord into telling him why Quirrell was there, but every time the thought came up he immediately turned it down. Being annoying to the Dark Lord was a risk that most would never dream of taking and a risk Harry only took when he was dieing of boredom. He didn't usually bug his adopted father out of curiosity. Instead he went to his room to meet Wood at the field. Seeing as it was only like four o'clock, Harry did laps around the Quidditch pitch and tried to do a few of the tricks he normally did with Goliath. So far, he'd managed to do quite a few. It had taken a lot of painful crashes for Harry to master making the broom keep going even if he stopped touching it. The technique just needed him to make sure the broom stayed exactly right-side up. It had taken him a while to realize that where the 'belly' of the broom was when he got off mattered. If he had it slightly tilted to the right, the moment he got off the broom it would veer sharply to the right.

Harry was just about to try jumping off the broom and catching it right before it was out of reach again when he noticed Wood staring at him from bellow, noticing that Harry was looking at him, Wood spoke, "Hey, Riddle, come down here!" he shouted so that Harry could hear him.

Harry dived straight down and pulled up at the last moment and used his momentum to reach Wood before he came to a sudden stop by turning sideways and leaning backwards slightly. He hopped off his broom and waved a hand in front of a gaping Wood.

"Excellent flying!" Wood exclaimed after a moment, "You really are one of the best flyers I've ever known!" He told Harry. Harry watched as the boy opened up the Quidditch set, "You remember the basics I taught you last time, this time we're going to go over the specific rules and I'll give you a little experience with all of the balls. If you want you can try shooting a few hoops with the Quaffle as well."

"Cool!" Harry exclaimed, "Are there difficulty levels on the bludgers like there are on the snitch?"

"Yes, but only three, easy, moderate, and hard," Wood told him, "Professional games always play on hard and the Quidditch cup has special bludgers. We usually play on moderate, and set the bludgers to easy whenever we get new beaters for practice."

"Can I see what setting a bludger on hard is like?" Harry asked.

"If you have a death wish," Wood told him.

"Please?" Harry asked, Wood shook his head.

"Okay, but the moment I let it out, it's every man for himself," Wood warned him, Harry nodded excitedly. He watched as Wood unstrapped one of the struggling black balls, "I'll give you a ten second head start, I'm going to run for the stands as I do not have a death wish."

The bludger suddenly stopped moving and Harry leaped onto his broom and flew a decent distance from the ball. He watched as it suddenly started up. Then it barreled towards Harry like a cannonball. Harry flicked his broom straight up for a fraction of a second then leaned forward so that it was tipped backwards slightly as his momentum kept him going upwards, looking down, Harry saw as the bludger twitched for a few seconds, then headed for Harry again. Harry half stood with his right hand and two legs on his broom. As the bludger neared, Harry noted that it was coming straight up to reach him Harry, he adjusted his weight onto his hand and his broom shot forward a couple of feet. He turned to see that the bludger changed its direction and was heading straight for his face. Harry let both of his legs drop off the broom, then Harry flipped his broom so that it was facing straight down, this caused the tail to hit the bludger extremely hard, catapulting the bludger over ten meters away. Harry watched as his broom started dropping faster than gravity had him dropping, this allowed him to easily mount his broom and pull up around five meters from the ground. Looking up at the bludger, Harry saw that it was heading towards him again.

He moved to the left at the last moment, and felt the wind as the bludger barreled past him. Harry quickly followed it and grabbed it right as it turned to attack him again. Grabbing it with both arms, Harry then pinned the struggling bludger between him and the broom. It repeatedly bucked, making it extremely hard to take back to the Quidditch box. Harry then shoved it into its space as fast as possible and strapped it in. Then he laid down on the grass and breathed heavily, rubbing his stomach, where he had been holding the bludger. Then Wood walked up to him grinning.

"That was excellent! I don't know how you managed to get that thing in the box, but that flying was great!" Wood exclaimed.

"Well, I think I'm ready to hear about some of the more specific things about Quidditch."

-= Halloween Day =-

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron grumbled after a particularly infuriating class of charms with Bushy, "She's a nightmare, honestly."

Harry opened his mouth to agree with the boy, but someone knocked into him and hurried past, it was Bushy. Harry saw her face for a moment and saw it was streaked with tears. She stormed past, and Harry was quite sure it wasn't towards the Great Hall.

"I think you should apologize," Harry told the boy, it would be useful to have a bookworm in their group.

"Why should I?" Ron grumbled, but he looked a bit uncomfortable, "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Harry didn't see Bushy during the rest of their walk to the Great Hall. Right before they entered the Great Hall, Harry heard the Patil girl tell her friend that Bushy was in the girls bathroom crying and did not want to be disturbed. Ron looked to be considering Harry's words at that point, but a moment later they entered the Great Hall and Ron forgot about the girl. Thousands of live bats were hanging from the ceiling and Harry assumed that there was some charm to stop them from pooping on everything. There were hundreds of floating jack o lanterns of all size in the air. Many of them were animated to growl and/or move. The biggest one Harry could find was one that was at least two meters in diameter and floating in the middle of the room. It had the traditional jagged grin and triangle eyes. It would sometimes blink or open its mouth and let out an evil laugh.

The meal appeared on the tables as it had the whole year, and Harry noted an abundance of Halloween-based food. There were miniature pumpkins that were cooked and stuffed with something. There were also dozens of pumpkin-based foods like pumpkin pie, bread, rolls, jams, and things spiced with pumpkin spice. There was also traditional pumpkin juice. Harry had just grabbed one of the warm pumpkin rolls when Professor Quirrell burst into the room. His turban was askew and his face was sketched with fake terror. Everyone stared as he ran into the center the center of the room, "T-troll… in the dungeons… th-thought you ought t-to know," he said before sinking to the floor in a faint.

There was a stunned silence for a second, before Harry heard a girl from Ravenclaw scream. Then everything turned into an uproar. Food was knocked off of tables and Harry quickly grabbed another roll before that too was knocked off. Dozens of students were frightened and shouting. It took multiple bright magenta firecrackers shooting out of the Headmaster's wand to bring silence once again.

"Prefects," He rumbled, "Lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately, me and the Professors will deal with the troll," he ordered.

Ron's older brother immediately reacted to the Headmaster's command, "Follow me! Stick together first years, no need to fear the troll as long as you don't stray. Stay close behind me, now. Make way! First years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!" the boy bossed everyone around.

Suddenly, Griffith looked up in alarm, "Hermione! She doesn't know!" He exclaimed in alarm.

Harry immediately spoke up after remembering Hermione was Bushy, "We've got to tell her!" He decided.

Ron glared between his two friends, "Oh all right," he snapped. "But Percy had better not see us."

Immediately, they slowed down and into the Hufflepuff group before slipping into a deserted hallway, then the trio headed towards the girls bathroom. Harry jumped at the sound of footsteps. He immediately pulled Griffith and Ron behind a giant stone griffin. Harry looked underneath the griffin's wing and saw Severus quickly heading down the corridor towards the third floor. Harry wondered if the man was in on whatever Professor Quirrell was up to. Griffith and Ron appeared to be having similar thoughts.

"Do you think Snivellus is going to the third floor?" Griffith asked.

Harry winced at the name, "Probably," he managed to agree.

"That man is certainly a Death Eater, I don't understand why the Headmaster lets him work here," Ron said.

The moment they stepped out from behind the griffin a nasty smell washed over them. Harry heard a grunt and the sound of shuffling feet. With a look at Griffith and Ron, he knew they'd heard it too. Ron pointed, and Harry looked up to see a huge shape moving towards them, Harry leaned back against the wall, staring as the shape walked into the moonlight. The troll was a horrible sight, it was a hulking twelve feet tall with pale dead skin. It's skin was somewhat baggy and it had all sorts of lumps covering its body. It's head was more of sphere with a quarter of its bottom gone. It had short, thick legs with big lumpy feet. The smell coming from it was overpowering as it lumbered past them. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

The troll stopped for a moment, looking around dumbly. Harry held his breath and closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them again and was relieved to see it hadn't seen them. The troll stopped at the doorway of the girl's bathroom and peered inside. Harry fearfully watched as it waggled its long ears, making up its weak mind and lumbering into the room.

"The key's in the lock," Griffith muttered. "We could lock it in."

Harry shook his head quickly before dashing towards the doorway, "Bushy's in there!" He told them, pointing at the doorway. Ron and Griffith gasped and stared at him for a moment. Harry turned to the door and entered the room. He heard a petrified scream, and pointed his wand at the troll and cast a silent cutting curse at the beast. Immediately, the troll let out a startled gasp, looking down at a snitch-sized hole ripping from his back to his front. A second later, Bushy let out a shriek as the troll dropped to the ground dead. Harry gasped when he realized that the first spell that had come to mind wasn't exactly something a first year should know. A moment later, Griffith and Ron burst through the door, wands out. What they came upon was a shocked Bushy hugging a horrified Harry and a troll lying in the middle of a pool of blood.

"What happened?" Griffith asked, looking between Harry and the troll.

"I-I killed it," Harry responded with wide eyes.

Ron looked at the body, "What spell did you use?" he asked.

"I didn't cast a spell, I j-just panicked and wanted to kill the troll for trying to hurt a, hurt a, a, a friend," Harry responded.

Bushy stopped hugging him finally, "You consider me a friend?" she asked.

Suddenly footsteps were heard in the hall and Professor McGonagall burst in, "What happened here?" She demanded. Harry watched as Severus and Professor Quirrell entered the room after her. Quirrell took one look at the dead troll and positioned himself on the opposite side of the room before collapsing against the wall.

Severus bent over the troll, a contemplative look on his face. Professor McGonagall looked infuriated, Harry had never seen her so angry. Her lips were white, "What on earth have you done! What were you thinking of?" she stormed, cold fury echoing in her voice. Harry looked at Griffith and Ron, who still had their wands in their hands from when they burst in. "You're lucky you weren't killed, why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Severus gave Harry a sharp look, Harry pretended to gulp, he really, really hoped the Death Eater didn't figure everything out. He looked down at the floor, not trusting his occlumency. Then suddenly Bushy spoke up, "They were looking for me," she said in a soft voice, "I was in the bathroom, so I didn't know about the troll. P-Praet came in right after it, and his accidental magic took over and killed it," she explained. Professor McGonagall calmed down a bit, this seemed to encourage Bushy, so she continued, "If Praet hadn't come in I would've died. The troll was raising its club to try to hit me when he killed it. He didn't have any time to get a teacher," she told Professor McGonagall.

"Well," Professor McGonagall noted, "in that case," she tried again. "Mr. Riddle, what exactly did you do?" she asked.

Harry gulped, "I saw that the troll was about to strike Bushy and I got angry and tried to think of a spell that would hurt it for attacking my friend," He told her.

"Bushy? Interesting nickname, anyways, I do believe it was just a strong bout of accidental magic," Professor McGonagall turned to Griffith, Ron, and Harry, "I believe ten points each is good to award you for coming to the aid of a fellow student. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, could you help Miss Granger on her way to the hospital wing? Tell Poppy she needs a calming draught," she ordered, then she stepped out of the room, soon followed by Griffith, Bushy, and Ron.

Harry turned to face an angry Severus and once again upright Quirrel, "Uh, woops?" Harry tried, but one look at Severus's face told Harry that wasn't going to cut it.

Harry sighed and walked up to both men, grabbing them by the hands simultaneously before apparating to Riddle Manor, "FATHER!" He called, "I HAD A BIT OF A PROBLEM AT SCHOOL!" He added.

A moment later, the Dark Lord entered the room, Harry did a subtle bow while a still-shock Severus and Quirrell fell into kneels, " _What did you do?"_ his adopted father exclaimed in parseltongue.

" _There was a troll in the school and I used a few dark curses on it, I thought it would be a good idea to get the explaining over with,"_ Harry told him, the two Death Eaters watched as the two Dark Wizards conversed.

"Stand," the Dark Lord ordered, and the two Death Eaters stood once again.

"It seems that Quirrell's distraction in an attempt to steal the stone has caused you to figure out about my son's education," The Dark Lord started, "Because this is very sensitive information I expect you both to take a Dark Unbreakable Oath," He told them, Harry smirked, Dark Unbreakable Oaths were much harsher than normal Unbreakable Oaths, and even if the one to promise to take one were willing to die, they still couldn't give away the secret.

Severus nodded, but then something seemed to occur to him, "Where is Praet's twin then? Magic itself acknowledges him having a twin," He said.

Harry quickly stunned Quirrell, then he turned to the Dark Lord, "Can I tell him?" He asked, and received a nod. Harry decided to tease Severus a little first though, "Really? You don't know where my twin is? You see him almost every week!" Harry exclaimed.

"I mean your real twin, not the one you were pretending to be," Severus said.

"I'm talking about my real twin too! What a coincidence," Harry smirked, "Say, you did see my birthday did you not? Right at the end of July, I wonder who else had twins that night?" He asked with obviously fake curiosity.

Severus's face flashed with shock, "Y-you're the Potter boy's twin? You're a Potter?" The poor man stuttered.

"Yes! Ten points to house Slytherin! But I'm also a Riddle, don't worry about that. Say, if the truth was told, I'd be famous! Have you ever wondered if Griffith really was the one struck with the killing curse that night?" Harry asked, a maniacal grin on his face.

"Y-you mean you're the boy who lived? You don't have a scar though!" Severus exclaimed.

"Tut tut, I thought you were smarter than that Severus!" Harry exclaimed, "You see, the prophecy you overheard those many years didn't even apply to my adopted father, it was referencing my brother, and myself," Harry smiled, he had only just figured it out, but it made quite a bit of sense.

Severus was going through quite a bit of a shock, and Harry could see the Dark Lord was realizing the sense in Harry's words, "Then that means…" Severus started.

"I'm destined to kill my brother, or he'll me. Do you realize how much more sense this makes? I cannot truly live while my brother's heart is beating, he's the one that caused everything to happen. He caused me to become the Dark Prince, he made the whole wizarding world adore him! If it had been intentional, I would applaud him, but the idiotic boy doesn't even know what he's done," Harry smirked, "Well, I think we can all agree you've learned enough for today, I'll enervate Quirrell, then you'll do your Dark Oaths and we'll be on our way!" Harry exclaimed with fake excitement. Harry pointed his wand at Quirrell and the man immediately kneeled again.

"Get off the floor and listen to what my father says," Harry ordered, and watched as the Death Eater scrambled to his feet. Severus and Quirrell looked at the Dark Lord expectantly.

"Repeat after me, 'I swear on my blood and magic that I will do everything in my power to hide all knowledge of what happened today and what was learned from reaching anyone or anything. I will not record what happened today in any books nor will I place these memories in a pensieve or store these events in any other way. I will converse of what happened and what I know to no one. Should I be confronted about this by anyone, I will answer as vaguely as possible.'" The Dark Lord ordered. Harry looked at Quirrell with suspicion, he hoped the Death Eater didn't find a way to convey the information to anyone in any way.

The two Death Eaters repeated the Dark Lord's words word for word, Harry listened carefully, making sure they didn't slur any words. He watched as the men pulled their wands away from their Dark Marks, which was what there wands had been touching as they swore their oaths. The Dark Marks glowed an eerie blood-red color for a few seconds before turning normal once again. Both Severus and Quirrell looked at Harry with respect now. Harry smirked at them.

"Well, I think we'd better get going, wouldn't want to be missed now would we?" Harry smirked at the two before quickly apparating them to Severus's private room in the school. Then he turned to them, "Well, I'd better go see how my 'friends' are doing," he told them smiling as he slipped into character.

Then he left Severus and Quirrell alone with their thoughts as he skipped away down the hall.

 **AN Ye! So I wrote most of this chapter yesterday because today I was way too lazy to write. I finally got to doing it, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	13. Nicolas Flamel

**AN Hello! Thanks for all the reviews, they're awesome! I luv reviews! Also, I'm sorry for any odd things in the story, I write a bit more for joy then everything matching up perfectly. And yes I do change Voldemort's appearance, in the movie he looks like a marble statue that someone seriously messed up. In my story he's more like an older Tom Riddle, same hair, still a nose, and his skin is extremely pale but it doesn't look like the veins are going to pop out. So just imagine him as a completely different person, because I really hate what he looks like in the movies (If you can't tell). Now to the story!**

Harry let out a puff of air. He'd spent the last hour reading _Quidditch Through the Ages_ to convince his 'friends', especially Bushy, that he was interested in Quidditch. Harry watched as his breath fogged out of his mouth, for some reason Bushy thought it was a good idea to hang out outside. Barely anyone had seen Harry fly, but word that he was Seeker had gotten out somehow. Now he had people telling him they were sure he was fine, but a lot of them basically told him they'd be running around underneath him with a mattress. He held back a smirk at them, they hadn't seen him fly, and while he wasn't the overconfident type, he was quite sure he'd be much better than they thought. Harry, Griffith, Ron, and Bushy had all noticed Severus was limping around. Harry privately wondered if the man had been trying to assist Quirrell in getting the stone despite the Dark Lord's orders to not do so.

"Wonder what happened to him?" Griffith asked, watching as the Professor limped slowly over to them.

Severus cast a cautious glance at Harry, which Harry responded to with a raised eyebrow, "What's it you've got there, Riddle?" Severus asked, Harry frowned and held up the stupid Quidditch book, but his eyes were begging the man to take the book away.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," Severus told him, Harry's heart leaped for joy as the man held out his hand for the book. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."

Harry gave Severus a grateful look and handed him the book. None of the others had noticed the exchange, and as soon as the professor had limped away, Harry turned to the others, "He just made that rule up," Harry grumbled with false anger, "What do you think happened to his leg?" He asked.

"Dunno, but I hope it's causing him a lot of pain," Ron responded bitterly.

-= Later, Gryffindor Common Room =-

The Gryffindor common room was a mess and extremely noisy as usual, Harry noted as he walked in. He had to remind himself that he was supposed to be a crazy Gryffindor that enjoyed bright colors and unorganized chaos. Griffith and Ron were checking their charms homework with Bushy for at least the third time. Harry had gotten everything right on the first try, and had managed to point out a few things Bushy could add to hers for extra credit. She had quickly thanked him with a hug. He had held back from cringing as the mudblood wrapped her arms around him. As soon as he'd made sure no one was looking, he'd cast multiple powerful and slightly painful cleaning charms. It'd only taken a minute though, then he came back into the room. No one really noticed he'd cleaned himself though, ignorant Gryffindors.

Harry watched as Griffith finished his homework, he was admittedly a bit restless. He could go to Riddle Manor, but that could prove risky. Griffith walked over to him, "Want to go try to get your book back from Snivellus?" He asked.

Harry opened his mouth to shout no and correct Griffith, but instead responded with something completely different, "Yeah, it would be nice to have something to do right now," He told the boy, inwardly groaning at the fact he'd have to go back and get his book.

"I'll come with you, Ron, Bushy, we're going to go get Harry's book back," Griffith told the other two.

"Better you than me," Ron and Bushy responded together. Harry smiled, he really hoped Severus would refuse to give the book back, but he knew that was unlikely.

Harry was practically dragged by Griffith down the stairs and to the staffroom and, without knocking, Griffith cracked the door open. The boy's eyes widened, and Harry looked inside to see Severus holding up his robes to show a bloody and mangled leg to Filch, who had huge bandages out. Harry quickly cast a one-way silencing charm so that he wouldn't see them. Harry knew it was unlikely the man had gone against the Dark Lord's orders, so he was guessing Severus had just been there to feed the Cerberus or something. It would probably be good if Griffith and the others assumed it was Severus trying to steal the stone, it would throw them off of Quirrell's trail.

"Blasted thing," Severus was saying, "how are you supposed to keep an eye on all three heads at once?" He asked, Harry nearly laughed at how much it sounded like Severus was trying to take the stone. Of course, Filch was not and would never be a Death Eater, so it was obvious Severus was talking about something that the old fool would agree with.

Griffith quickly shut the door as quietly as possible, luckily Severus didn't see the movement, then Griffith turned to Harry, grabbing his wrist. Then they both sprinted away from the staffroom and up the marble staircase once again. They leaped through the portrait hole and quickly walked over to Ron and Bushy. Once over there, Harry saw that the two had just finished their homework. Bushy looked up expectantly at Harry and a moment later Ron did as well.

"Well? Did you get the book back?" Bushy asked, looking at them. "Something happened didn't it?" She asked.

Griffith told her how they saw Severus with Filch.

"Don't you see what this means?" Harry asked. "Snape probably tried to get past the Cerberus while everyone was panicking about the troll during Halloween! That's where he was going when we had to hide behind that statue. He's after whatever the Cerberus is guarding. And I'd bet my broomstick he LET the troll into the castle as a diversion," Harry accused.

Bushy's eye widened, "No, he wouldn't! He's a teacher! I know you guys don't get along with him much, but that doesn't mean he's a bad person. Even he wouldn't dare try to steal something Dumbledore was guarding anyways, Dumbledore's the most powerful wizard in our time!" She exclaimed.

Harry bit back a remark about the Dark Lord being more powerful, "Honestly Bushy! I know you like being a teacher's pet and everything, but all the evidence points to Snape trying to steal whatever the three-headed dog is guarding. I wouldn't put anything past that snake, he's probably a Death Eater as well," Ron paused for a breath, "What's it he's after though? What's that dog guarding?"

Harry went to bed that night with many thoughts on what he was going to do. He was a bit excited to show off his skill on a broomstick at the game. He was also excited for the raid he was going to get to join in only a few weeks. Harry wondered what else he could do to make Severus seem more suspicious. He just imagined the look on the man's face if he realized what Harry had done. Harry smirked slightly before falling asleep.

Harry opened his eyes. Looking around, he realized he was in a field. The field was a pale gray ghostly color and the sky was dark with ash. Harry saw he was in the center of a huge crater. He quickly scrambled out, and saw that the field was strewn with bodies. To his right, a forest of pine trees told him that he was near Potter Manor. Glancing at the bodies, Harry recognized many of them as Death Eaters or Order members. Some appeared older than they used to and there were a few faces Harry didn't recognize that felt familiar. He wandered to the center of the field and saw a small circle where fewer bodies lay. Rushing over with a sense of dread, Harry saw Severus and the Dark Lord laying in the center of the circle, dead. A few order members lay dead near them as well. Harry saw a knife that appeared to have been ripped from on of the Order members hands was covered in blood. Harry looked to the Dark Lord and saw the stab had gone right through his adopted father's heart.

"W-what happened?" Harry asked, looking around, not a single living person remained to answer him, "Where did everything go so wrong?" He tried again, not really expecting anyone to answer.

"This," Harry turned at the sound of a voice, behind him, he saw a boy of seventeen or eighteen that looked like an older version of himself. "This is the final battle, between Dark and Light. It's where each person's true allegiance shows. Where you learn who's a traitor, and who is really willing to die for you," The boy told him, Harry followed his gaze and saw that near the forest many Death Eaters and a couple Order members looked to have been trying to run away.

Harry looked at his father's body, "Why? Why does everyone have to die?" He asked.

"War is something that comes with being human, to stop war, you must stop being human," The boy told him. "Many of the people here stayed human, they're all dead. I stopped being human many years ago."

Harry looked at him, "What are you then? If you are not human?" Harry asked.

"I'm a weapon, I am death itself, and death cannot die," The boy responded, "But it appears that did not work out for me as well. A weapon needs a human to wield it, but every human fell to war."

"Then what should I do?" Harry asked.

"Stop being human, become a more powerful weapon than I was, and become one sooner, then perhaps whoever wields you will win the war," The boy responded.

"That sounds easy enough," Harry responded.

"We'll see," was all the boy said in response.

Harry shot out of his bed and blinked. That was an extremely strange dream. He got into a sitting position and rubbed his head. Casting a tempus, Harry saw that it was already seven thirty. It was a weekend day so the Great Hall was open until nine thirty, which was an hour and thirty minutes before the Quidditch match. Slipping out of bed, Harry got on his black robes and school clothes. He then opened up the door to his room and stepped out. Stretching, Harry quickly walked to Griffith's room with a full plan to rudely awaken him. After ripping the door open, Harry sadly found Griffith was already awake and getting dressed.

"G'morning," Harry told them, letting out a fake yawn.

"Hey Praet," Griffith responded sleepily.

Ron was already dressed and was sitting on his bed petting Woody. The naughty mouse had chewed the edge of a poster they'd made for Harry that read _Praet for President!_ Harry didn't understand how the poster was relevant to Quidditch or being the team's Seeker, so he just internally shrugged. It only took a minute before Griffith was ready as well, and the boy was bouncing in excitement. They quickly folded up the poster and Ron put Woody back in his small cage.

Breakfast went fast and soon Harry was inside the dressing room with the others on Gryffindor team. He had cringed upon seeing the extremely bright scarlet flying robes. He had to repeat to himself with his eyes closed that they were just like blood, and blood was just fine to himself at least twenty times as he put them on. Before they left to go on the field, Wood stood up to make a speech. Harry held back a groan, and looking at a few others, he realized he wasn't alone.

Wood cleared his throat, "Okay men," he started.

"And women," a girl chaser added.

"And women," Wood agreed, "This is it."

"The big one," added a weasley twin.

"The one we've all been waiting for," the other continued.

The first twin leaned towards Harry, "He says the same speech every year, we know it by heart," he told Harry, winking with a grin on his face.

"Shut up, you two," Wood exclaimed exasperatedly. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it," he told them. Then he glared at them all as if to ask them to challenge his claims, "Right, it's time. Good luck, fly well, all of you."

Harry followed the Weasley twins out of the dressing room and walked into the huge field. The day was slightly cloudy but otherwise perfect weather for a Quidditch game. Harry was pretty sure he'd have done fine with a bit of wind, but nice weather was good for the game. Looking up, Harry saw Ron, Griffith, and Bushy's flashy and bright banner. Harry held back a cringe and instead weakly smiled and waved. All three of them waved excitedly back. Harry looked to see that a woman with bright yellow eyes and gray hair was refereeing. She reminded him a bit of a hawk.

She slowly flew over to them, "Now, I expect a nice fair game from all of you," She told them once she had their attention. Harry noticed she was specifically glaring at the Slytherin team. Harry held back a chuckle, of course Slytherin would do anything to win. It was in fact a Slytherin trait, ambition. Harry looked at the captain, Marcus Flint. There had been some discussion among Death Eaters that the boy might have troll blood in him, but no one knew for sure.

"Mount your brooms," the referee ordered.

Harry practically jumped onto his Nimbus, he looked at the other seeker. Harry believed the boy's name was Terence, and one look at him told Harry the boy wasn't much of a Slytherin. The boy didn't seem particularly ambitious and seemed to not follow the 'use any means to achieve their ends' part of the Hat's description of Slytherin. It was also clear the boy was only moderate on a broom, not particularly skilled. Harry braced his legs to shoot into the air. He heard the referee's whistle blast and pushed himself into the air.

"And immediately chaser Angelina Johnson takes the Quaffle! And what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and a rather attractive one t-" The announcer started to say.

"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed loudly.

"Sorry Professor," The boy responded.

The Weasley twin's friend, Lee Jordan, was the announcer. Harry found that the boy was highly biased towards Gryffindor as well. It wasn't surprising though, as Lee was a Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall seemed aware of his bias as well, and was closely watching the boy.

"And she's really belting along up there, a perfect pass to chaser Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year she was only a reserve. She passes the Quaffle back to Johnson and-. No, the Slytherins have stolen the Quaffle, Slytherin Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and bolts down the field," Lee Jordan rambled, Harry tuned him out, although he made sure to check if the words Seeker, Snitch, or Praet Riddle came up.

Harry looked around, all the Gryffindors had brought flashy trinkets that made it extremely hard to keep an eye out for the snitch. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see two bludgers flying towards him. Harry scooted forward a few inches on his broom and turned to face the bludgers, right before they hit him, he aimed his broom downward and felt a satisfying _thwack_ as his broom hit the bludgers away and straight towards Marcus Flint, who had the Quaffle tucked under his arm.

Harry heard Lee Jordan mention him, "-Seeker Praet Riddle hits the two attacking bludgers away from himself and towards Chaser Marcus Flint in an excellent show of skill. Rumor has been going around that Riddle is Wood's secret weapon. Nobody's quite sure how good Riddle is, but once the Snitch shows up I think we'll know. This year is sh-" The boy rambled.

"Jordan, comment on the game, not the gossip of the school!" Professor McGonagall interrupted.

Harry tuned the boy out once again and scanned the field. He heard Jordan announce a Gryffindor score. Looking down at the ground, Harry saw Hagrid had decided to come to the game as well. Seeing that the man was looking at him, Harry waved before turning back to the field. Harry reminded himself of what Wood had told him was the game plan, he was to stay out of the way to avoid being attacked much. After the double-bludger incident though, Harry didn't run into any trouble. Harry decided he had nothing better to do and returned to listening to Lee Jordan's commentary.

"- ducks two Bludgers, two weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the -wait a moment-" Lee Jordan started, but Harry had already started barreling straight towards the Snitch. Seeker Terrence Higgs followed just a moment after Harry, but Harry's broom was faster as well. All the chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing except for Marcus Flint. Harry saw the chaser zooming to intercept him. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Harry judged where the boy was then lodged himself into his jumping position. A moment before he would have hit the chaser, Harry launched into the air, this caused his broom to go downward enough to avoid the chaser and Harry jumped over the top.

"Seeker Praet Riddle executes a perfect jump over the top Chaser Marcus Flint as he flies by! Look at that boy fly!" Lee Jordan exclaimed excitedly. Many students in the crowd had gasped when they saw Flint flying to intercept Harry. The rest had gasped when Harry jumped over the boy like he wasn't even there. A few had even dropped their posters and binoculars.

Then a well-aimed bludger almost crashed into Harry and while he was dodging it he lost sight of the Snitch. Harry cursed and flew straight back up into the air again. He noticed that a few of his teammates were gaping at him and he glared at them. That got them out of their state of shock and back to playing. Harry saw that Dean was shouting angrily from the stands and it appeared Hagrid agreed with him. Lee Jordan had stopped speaking temporarily and Harry waited for him to speak again.

"So, after that obvious and disgusting attempt at injuring the Gryffindor Seeker," Jordan paused.

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall growled.

"I mean, after that open and revolting act-"

"Jordan, I'm warning you," the Professor threatened menacingly.

"All right, all right. Flint tries to kill the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure. Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle," Lee Jordan states, Harry holds back a chuckle.

Harry quickly dropped flat on his broom as a Bludger flew past him, he glared at the Weasley who'd accidentally sent it. The boy just shrugged and focused back on the game. Harry huffed and looked around. Quirrell and Severus were watching him intently. Severus seemed particularly unsurprised, but Quirrell was shocked at Harry's flying prowess. Harry smirked at them quickly before continuing playing. Suddenly he felt a blast of Dark Magic come his way from the direction of the Slytherin stands. Harry quickly and invisibly deflected it. Then he turned to its sender, an angry-looking Slytherin seventh year. It was surprising the boy knew such strong Dark Magic, but Harry knew it, so he wasn't too surprised.

Harry sent a silent, invisible, and extremely powerful stinger at the boy, who winced visibly. The boy then looked at Harry in fear, Harry smirked darkly before changing it to a cheerful smile. Then he caught a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. Harry sharply turned, and saw the small floating form of the Snitch. Glancing around, Harry saw that he was the only one who'd spotted it. Higgs was much closer to it, so Harry did a quick loop until he was positioned closer than the boy. Then he hovered directly over it and went straight down. Sensing his approach, the Snitch flew low to the ground. Harry grinned, the Snitch being close to the ground wouldn't bother him at all. When he was just about to touch the ground, he pulled up sharply. The Snitch seemed to realize being close to the ground wouldn't help it, so it started flying upwards, straight towards a now-diving Higgs. Harry quickly changed his angle and made the Snitch change direction as well. They were both around ten feet from the ground and Harry quickly outflew Higgs and it was once again just the Snitch and him.

A foot away from grabbing the Snitch, Harry noticed Higgs had repositioned and was in the new path of the Snitch. Harry quickly pushed himself off of his broom only using his legs. This caused the broom to tilt backwards slightly into the stopping position, knowing he didn't have much time, Harry snatched the Snitch and with his feet he grabbed the very front of his broom. This made his broom straighten out and with a burst of speed it shot underneath him and Harry released his feet and grabbed his broom with his spare hand. Then he quickly pulled to the right to avoid crashing into Higgs.

"And Seeker Praet Riddle catches the Snitch! One-hundred seventy points to ten, Gryffindor win!" Lee Jordan shouted excitedly. Professor McGonagall was looking at him disapprovingly, but was obviously glad Gryffindor had won.

Harry landed on the ground and was immediately surrounded by excited teammates. He groaned when he realized that they were all planning on taking time to shake his hand and pat him on the back. He struggled to get out of the crowd and ran over to Bushy, Ron, Griffith, and Hagrid. Griffith was bouncing up and down excitedly, Ron looked rather happy for him, and Bushy just gave him a smile. Hagrid seemed like he was reassured that Harry was nothing like the Dark Lord, Harry hid a smirk.

"Bleh, all that crazy flying makes me feel a bit sick," Harry told them, faking a look of nausea.

"No kidding! That was bloody brilliant Praet!" Ron reassured him.

"Yeah! Even when that slimy Slytherin tried to knock you off your broom you just jumped over him like it was no big deal! You're so awesome, I wish I could fly as well as you do," Griffith exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, good job," Bushy told him with a smile.

"'Ey, yer want ter go over to my hut ter 'ave some tea?" Hagrid asked, Harry smiled.

"That sounds great! Can we?" Harry asked, looking back at the crowd of insane Gryffindors. He looked at the others, they nodded.

"Well come along then!" Hagrid exclaimed, leading them across the field towards his hut.

Once they were at Hagrids hut, Harry turned to the others, "I think someone tried to do something to my broom or me," He told them suddenly.

"What?" Griffith and Ron exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yeah, in the middle of the game I just kind of felt like something hit me, then my magic drained. I'm not really sure what happened," Harry told them.

"I'll bet it was Professor Snape, I know I defended him earlier, but he was watching you very intently during the game," Bushy claimed, "I think he was trying to jinx you. I'm not certain what stopped him, but accidental magic shields aren't impossible, that's what most people think Griffith did when the Dark Lord tried to kill him."

"It's possible, Praet's accidental magic does seem a bit erratic. No offense Praet," Griffith responded.

"None taken," Harry responded.

"Yer know, yer shouldn't blame ter Professor, 'e may seem a bit harsh sometimes, but 'e's a trustworthy man on ter inside," Hagrid interrupted, "Sugar?" he asked, Harry shook his head, no.

"Praet and I figured something out about him," he told Hagrid, "He tried to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him in the leg. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding," Griffith explained.

Hagrid fumbled with the teapot for a moment, "How der yer know 'bout Fluffy?" Hagrid asked.

Harry almost laughed at his friends responses, of course the big oaf would name a Cerberus something stupid like Fluffy, "Fluffy?" Griffith asked.

"Yeah, he's mine, bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year. Lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" Hagrid stopped mid-sentence.

"Yes?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," Hagrid responded gruffly, "That's top secret, that is."

"Snivellus is trying to STEAL it!" Griffith tried, practically shouting the word.

"Rubbish!" Hagrid exclaimed, "And that's Professor Snape to yer, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he try to KILL Praet?" Bushy cried out suddenly. Harry noted her feelings about Severus really had changed, "I know a jinx when I see one, Professor Snape was obviously trying to jinx Praet, even if unsuccessfully! You've got to keep eye contact, and the Professor never looked away from Praet for a second!" She shouted.

"Quiet down now! I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid told them, "I don' know what caused Praet's accidental shields to go up or 'is magic to drain. But Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! now listen ter me, all four of yeh. Stay outa trouble an' forget about that dog! It's dangerous, an' yeh better forget 'bout what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dummbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" exclaimed Bushy, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?" She asked.

Hagrid looked furious with himself, but Harry was excited. So the Cerberus was guarding the Philosopher's stone? No wonder the Dark Lord wanted it, it was a key both for riches and immortality.

 **AN Yeah! Chapter 13 is out and they've found out about Nicolas Flamel! Please follow, favorite, and review for more! Cya!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	14. Preparing for the Holidays

**AN Hello! Sorry for not updating, but I should be back to updating every day now, although I have a camp this week. Onwards to the story!**

Christmas and Winter Break were coming, and no one was more excited than Harry. He'd been apparating to Riddle Manor almost every day to visit Goliath and stretch his magical strengths. It was pleasing to see how much more powerful his magic was becoming. He'd also flattened like half the forest during these magic-testings, which had made the Dark Lord feel conflicted about Harry's practices. Harry sat up in his bed, sometimes it felt nice to exhaust his magic and test its limits. It made it easier for him to rest and sleep. In classes they barely ever used magic, so Harry had gotten into the practice of trying to do everything they were learning wandlessly.

Many people had gone out and enjoyed the ice and snow. The lake had frozen and some of the students, mainly muggleborns, were enjoying ice-skating. There were huge snow forts everywhere and the ground was full of footprints. Every time anyone tried to walk around, they usually ended up tripping or getting their foot stuck. Griffith, Ron, and Bushy were all in the middle of a snowball fight against the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. Potions class was extremely cold for those who didn't know the warming charm, and in Harry's year, that meant he was the only person who managed to stay fine. Everyone else was huddling miserably around their boiling cauldrons. Draco had made a comment about feeling bad for kids who didn't have parents who wanted them home. Harry wasn't sure who it was aimed at, but he was certain the boy hadn't just said it for no reason.

Harry quickly got out of bed, it was odd how much Lucius Malfoy's son hated Harry. Harry hadn't really done anything, but he supposed that it had something to do with him being in Gryffindor. The other Slytherins at least respected him, because they knew that if he was even a tiny bit like the Dark Lord he'd be a bad enemy to have. Draco on the other hand had relentlessly taunted Harry about having no parents there to take care of him and how Harry was an orphan. Harry usually just ignored the insults, as he knew the boy was wrong. Sometimes he'd wandlessly curse the boy, but somehow Draco didn't seem to get that Harry was just holding back torturing and likely killing the boy.

Harry was staying at the castle for Winter Break, which was frustrating, but he knew the character he'd been living as would've stayed. When Professor McGonagall had gone around with a sign-up for staying in the castle, Harry had faked a smile and signed it immediately. He was a bit distraught when he found Ron was staying as well, but luckily the other two were leaving. Since he and Ron weren't particularly close Harry would be able to get away with going to Riddle Manor easily enough.

After eating breakfast and going to his first class, Harry, Ron, Griffith, and Bushy all walked out of Potions together to find the hallway blocked by a large fir tree. Hagrid was puffing as he tried to pull the huge tree along.

"Uh,want any help?" Ron asked after about a minute of them standing behind it.

"Nah, I'm alright, thanks Ron," Hagrid responded between breaths.

Then Draco voiced Harry's thoughts, "Then could you move? Some of us have better places to be right now," He ordered. "Need a little extra money hm Weasley? Hoping to be a gamekeeper when you grow up to?" he drawled.

Ron and Griffith let out feral snarls, Harry sighed aloud, didn't he know that would only provoke Draco more, "He's not worth it, all he wants is a reaction, so can we please get going?" Harry asked, pointing towards the space Hagrid had made for them. He stood in front of Draco and waited for everyone else in the hall to go before smirking at Draco and finally letting the boy through. He doubted the boy missed the flash in Harry's eyes and the evil look plastered on his face. It made him sad that it took that much to get the boy's attention. He then followed the blonde through and plastered a kind warm smile on his face, waving to Hagrid as he passed. Draco gave Harry one last look before Harry caught up to his 'friends' and decided to follow Hagrid even though they'd just passed him.

They ended up in the Great Hall where Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were speedily putting up decorations for Christmas. Harry watched as they strung green and red everywhere. He found it amusing that the main colors of two rival houses were the colors for the holiday. The green made the room seem serious and organized while the red brightly clashed with the color and made the room seem glaringly bright, flashy, and (if possible) arrogant. The colors were literally everywhere as well. All sorts of non-magical plants with magical modifications hung from the ceiling and huge piles of red ornaments, berries, and candles were laying around. There were also intertwined green and red banners. The floor was white a yielded slightly much like snow would.

At least twelve huge christmas trees encircled the room, they were covered in differing things, some had huge ornaments and some were snowy-looking and had dripping icicles. One had candles all around it, undoubtedly with anti-burning charms on the tree as well. Harry watched as Hagrid put up another tree in the only gap in the trees, Harry thought the number was odd, but he just shrugged it off. Hagrid proceeded to amble over to them.

"How long's it 'till yer holidays?" Hagrid asked cheerfully.

"Just one," Bushy told the man, "That reminds me, since we got out of class early we have about half an hour until lunch, we should better get going," She added, Harry sighed, he'd been purposefully putting notice-me-not charms on every book the mention Nicolas and been recommending places to look that would seem like good ideas but weren't. He'd also noticed that generally letting his true emotions through didn't cause any problems.

"Yeah, we'd better," Ron responded, finally turning away from where he'd been watching Professor Flitwick put gold bubble-like ornaments on Hagrid's new tree.

"What're yeh doin' there? No' much ter do now that yer so close to yer holidays," Hagrid asked.

"Oh, we're not doing school work!" Harry exclaimed, he was going to enjoy teasing the big oaf, "Ever since you told us about the Headmaster's friend Nicolas Flamel we've been going to the library trying to figure out who he is!" Harry told the man happily.

"What!" Hagrid exclaimed, "Yeh'd do good ter stop lookin' fer him, I told yeh yeh should jus' ferget 'bout Fluffy," he warned.

"Oh no! We wouldn't ever do anything to do with your dog, we are just curious about who Nicolas Flamel is, don't worry," Harry told him angelically.

"Yeah, I mean, he must be pretty important and all to be friends with Dumbledore," Griffith added, grinning, "Say, you could save us the trouble couldn't you? I mean, you must know Nicolas at least moderately well if he knows Dumbledore."

"Mhm, and I'll bet he's made and owns some pretty cool artifacts as well!" Bushy added.

"I'm sayin' nothin'" Hagrid told them.

"We'll just have to find out ourselves then, have fun decorating Hagrid!" Harry responded, waving before walking away. The others told the man good-bye as well and left the Great Hall with a very disgruntled looking Hagrid.

Bushy then hurriedly led them to the library, as she knew the way best. They had been searching vigorously, but Harry knew they wouldn't find the man in any of the books they were looking at. They'd looked in multiple newer looking books that only mentioned developments of the generation and around last ten years. It was extremely easy to lead them in the wrong direction, although it was slightly hard to keep Bushy away from a book about artifacts, the ancient and the newer ones. Harry had taken to reading right beside her and occasionally checking on Griffith or Ron. Ron worried him a bit because the boy picked books off the shelves at complete random. Griffith was just targetting books on recent famous wizards. The library was vast, so Harry was pretty sure he was all good as long as he made sure they didn't learn how to summon things well enough to ask for a book on Nicolas Flamel.

Harry noticed Griffith leaving the recent famous wizards area and quickly got up to follow him. He watched as the boy wandered over to look through to the Restricted Section. Any student caught in there without a pass was doomed to be expelled, but Harry doubted that'd stop the boy. Of course, there was just as likely books on Nicolas there as there were in the library allowed for students, so Harry wasn't too worried. He yearned to look at some of the books in the Restricted Section, the Dark Lord had told him that it was full of books on the darkest of magics. He felt drawn towards the idea of learning new dark spells for fighting, but he knew it was unlikely he'd be able to learn anything from it. The books were charmed to give warnings if opened without permission. Harry was considering asking for a pass from Severus, but that might risk his cover. Instead, Harry promised himself that the year, no the second, that he graduated, he'd sneak into the library and read every Dark Arts book in the Restricted Section.

Harry heard the librarian sneak up on them, but he ignored her until she spoke, "What're you looking for boys?" She growled, she obviously knew they weren't looking for anything, not in the restricted section anyways.

"Nothing here," Griffith told her. "Know where we could find a book about Nicolas Flamel though?" he asked quietly.

She ignored his question and swiped her duster at him (Why was she doing a house elf's work? Harry knew the castle had at least a hundred elves), "Better get out of this area then. Go on, out!" She shouted.

Harry quickly led Griffith away before turning to him, "Why did you ask her about Flamel? I thought we all agreed we didn't want to risk Se- Snape finding out!" Harry stuttered, he was slightly upset that if the librarian had taken the time to answer Griffith's question they'd find out about the stone and Harry would lose his advantage.

"Sorry! I did ask quietly though, it was in the spur of the moment. Anyways, I don't think even Madam Pince could here me," Griffith responded.

"It's okay," Harry smiled, "We'd better go see if Bushy or Ron found anything! I hope they did," He exclaimed with false enthusiasm while he really hoped for the opposite.

They'd been looking for at least two weeks and Harry felt his luck with keeping them away might have been running out. He also tried to stay as busy as possible, making up reasons for them not to look, such as pranking Draco, which Bushy only rarely agreed with doing. Harry did notice the mudblood never stopped them from making the boy's hair poke in every direction or making him roar like a lion at random times. Surprisingly though, the mudblood would usually participate in the best way to make a prank happen, and so these pranking ideas drew the group closer together. The Weasley twins also were starting to notice them as a group instead of just Harry or just Griffith.

Five minutes later, Bushy and Ron appeared with disappointed looks on their faces. Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from cheering for joy, "Nothing?" He asked with a sad look on his face for a moment.

"No, not a single thing! Are you sure Hagrid didn't just make him up to throw us off Headmaster Dumbledore's plans?" Bushy suggested.

"Maybe, but I doubt it, Hagrid is way too nice and honest to lie. Unless he's a really good actor," Griffith responded.

"Well, Praet, Ron, you'd both better keep looking over the break while Griffith and I are away!" Bushy exclaimed, Harry and Ron nodded.

"And you could ask your parents," Ron added hastily, "It'd be safe to ask them."

"Very safe, as they're both non-magical dentists," Bushy responded, stressing the 'non-magical dentists' part. "They'd obviously know about a wizard who owns an important magical artifact!" She exclaimed sarcastically.

"Okay, okay!" Ron agreed, "Maybe it's a crazy idea, but it's worth a try right?" He said defensively, hands raised.

"I'll see if I can find anything on my dad's computer," Bushy responded, "But I doubt I will."

"Come put your? Come put your what?" Griffith asked, highly confused, "Do you put something in it?"

"It's pronounced kuhm-pyoo-ter, and it's a muggle machine that can be used to search for things," Bushy attempted to explain, Harry listened intently, this computer thing might be powerful.

"So it leads you to whatever has the information you need?" Ron asked.

"No. Just, it's. Uhm, I'm not going to try to explain it."

-= Later that Week =-

"Hey Praet, where're you going?" Ron asked as Harry got up to exit the common room towards his room to use his timeturner.

"Just going to put this book back in my room," Harry responded, waving his book that appeared to be on basic charms but was actually a review of some of the dark spells Harry would be using during the raid.

"Oh, okay, when you get back, want to play a game of wizards chess?" Ron asked.

"Sure!" Harry responded with exaggerated enthusiasm. He did want to learn how to play wizard's chess, but he was even more excited for the Death Eater raid, "I don't know how to play though, can you show me when I get back?" Harry asked, Ron nodded.

Harry smiled and walked out of the room, entering his own room. He then grabbed his timeturner and turned the timeturner five times counter-clockwise. As he faded away, he heard a crack as his future self apparated into the room. Then he found himself in his empty room once more. Checking the clock he'd set in the corner earlier that day, he saw that it was now eleven o'clock. Harry quickly apparated to Riddle Manor. The raid was supposedly at noon, so he had an hour to kill. He rushed out to the forest to see Goliath. The Dark Lord had let him bring Goliath on any raids, which was disappointing but Harry understood.

Harry then let the excitement of the oncoming raid overcome him and he shuddered with excitement as he bounced up and down. He then let out a laugh that more resembled an evil cackle as he tried to figure out how many people he'd try to beat before they were forced to retreat. They would undoubtedly be retreating as their target would get reinforcements quickly. They were going to be entering the Ministry through every entrance. There would be about a dozen entering through floo, and at least double that going through specified apparation points. A few would enter with the help of Harry's special apparation, including Bellatrix, Nott, and a few Harry didn't know. Lastly, around forty would go through the phone booth and the other muggle entrances.

Harry heard a loud roar and looked up to see Goliath landing beside him. He quickly walked up and rubbed Goliath's scales. His dragon let out a mix between a purr and a rumbling sound. They'd obviously both missed eachother, Harry hadn't been to Riddle Manor in at least a week and being bonded seemed to make them unable to be apart for long amounts of time. Not that Harry minded though, he enjoyed his mellow dragon's company, although he'd found that Goliath was extremely protective from a few times he'd been injured. The dragon had simply eaten anyone who'd gotten near Harry one time when he'd gotten sick with dragon pox, which hadn't been particularly helpful for Harry getting better. Luckily the Death Eaters of the Inner Circle had managed to convince the dragon that the nurses were there to help. This only happened after three had been eaten though.

Harry chuckled as he remembered. After a minute, he grabbed one of Goliath's spikes and hopped on. He did take a moment to admire Goliath's size, likely bordering a hundred feet. It was unusual, as the largest Hungarian Horntails recorded were around seventy feet long. In fact, Goliath was possibly one of the largest dragons to ever exist. Harry supposed it was because of the blood bond, but he wasn't sure why. He wiggled a bit to be better positioned and screamed for joy as Goliath shot straight into the air at shocking speeds. He held on to his dragon's spikes with both hands as they bolted into the skies. After around thirty seconds in the air, Harry could barely see the ground, and suddenly Goliath stopped pumping his wings. Harry felt as the wind stopped whipping his hair and for a moment he felt weightless until Goliath tipped backwards and suddenly Harry was upside-down.

Harry watched as Goliath finished his flip so that he was barreling headfirst towards the ground. Harry let out a whoop that was lost in the wind and Goliath let out an ear-piercing roar. Harry then turned and let go of Goliath. This caused him to start falling slightly slower than Goliath because he was lighter. It gave an odd feeling as it looked like Harry floated upwards. As the ground approached, Harry watched as Goliath flipped on his back and spread his wings. This resulted in Harry somewhat-quickly slamming into his dragon's chest. Goliath hugged him with his legs before flipping back over so that he was flying normally. Harry then grabbed Goliath's right front foot and let himself be lifted high enough so that he could drag himself back onto Goliath's neck.

He cast a tempus, "Better get back to the manor," He told Goliath. The dragon groaned in disappointment but Harry was jumping in excitement. It was still half an hour before the raid officially started, but he thought it'd be a good idea to be ready before then. He couldn't wait to kill someone, and hopefully a challenging someone as well!

 **AN So yeah! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for the reviews and I'll try to post tomorrow! Please follow, favorite, and review for more!**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


	15. Winter Raid

**AN Hello! Thanks for all the reviews and stuff. I actually want to write faster than I do, (It's not just those random reviewers that sometimes scream 'POST MORE'). I have plans for chapters until Harry is like 17-19 at which point this story ends and I start a new story. Not going to say what it is, but it's still about the Dark Prince, sort of a continuation. And I fear that this summer camp is causing me to update slower (I cri). Anyways, to the story!**

Harry stood straight and frozen like a statue, watching as the Death Eaters prepared for the raid at a sluggish pace. He was considering shooting a few practice curses at the particularly slow ones, but it might make them get ready even slower. Harry cast a tempus, supposedly he'd only been waiting there for three minutes, but he was certain he must be casting the spell wrong or something. He sent a glare at a dark haired Death Eater with light brown eyes who had been spending the whole time he'd been there putting some sort of boots on. Harry wished that the idiotic man had just transfigured them temporarily to make them easier to get on, but of course the Death Eater wanted to take as much time as possible.

Finally, every Death Eater was ready, and while Harry's wand told him they were ready right on time, he was certain it was somehow broken. Harry held out his arm, it was slightly awkward to side-along apparate three people, and he felt it ruined his whole I'm-the-epic-Dark-Prince thing but he had to deal with it. Bellatrix's hair was literally everywhere and she had a crazy grin on her face. Sadly, Harry couldn't see what Lord Malfoy and Nott looked like as they had chosen to wear their masks. Harry then watched as all the other Death Eaters prepared to make their entrances, those going through muggle to magic areas apparated, while others positioned themselves near fires or just stayed where they were.

Once everyone was positioned, Harry apparated into the ministry. The raid was more of a message to the magical world that even their Ministry wasn't safe. It was also a suicide mission for the majority of the Death Eaters, but either they were too stupid to realize it or way more loyal to the Dark Lord than they seemed. Of course, Harry had to apparate Bellatrix, Malfoy, and Nott out when they started to loose, but other than that, the Dark Lord assumed the Death Eaters would die. Except for the ones who got injured enough to retreat early on. Harry grinned a smile quite similar to Bellatrix's then turned towards the Death Eaters who were spreading throughout the building.

The Inner Circle's who Harry had apparated with spread themselves a little ways away from Harry but stayed reasonably near him. Harry heard a shouted curse and knew they had found someone. Turning on his heel, Harry walked over to where the sound had come from, but was disappointed to see that the man had already been killed. Spotting the entrance to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry walked over and entered through the high entryway. Looking through, he saw the doorways to the Auror's Offices, Improper Use of Magic Offices, and Wizengamot Administration Services in clear sights with the less important offices to the sides.

Harry swung the door open to the Auror's offices and was delighted to see a few Aurors who hadn't gotten out yet. It was slightly shocking how few people were at the Ministry, but Harry didn't really care. Harry watched as a dirty-blonde man with dark brown eyes and somewhat chubby features leaped towards a light brown wand. ' _Accio Brown-eyed man's wand'_ Harry thought, and watched as the wand catapulted to him. Harry grinned wider when he realized he'd successfully cast the spell accurately, wandlessly, and silently. He watched as the man looked at him and immediately spun towards a newspaper on the wall. Harry smirked as he saw the newspaper was talking about him.

"The Dark Prince is here! Capture him!" The man shouted, attempting to duck behind his desk as he grabbed a spare wand (Apparently Auror's went through wands very quickly). Instantly, Harry saw multiple Aurors point their wands at him.

"Hello gentlemen," Harry said smoothly, silently casting a disarming charm at the brown-eyed man. "I guess I'm so famous that everyone recognizes me?" He asked, then he shot three consecutive Expelliarmus's at the remaining Aurors, and watched as two of them hastily put up shields while the third ducked and rolled behind the cover of a desk. He heard Bellatrix shout a crucio at the first man Harry had attacked, as she tortured him, she let out a happy cackle. Harry shot a killing curse at one of the men who was still standing.

" _Alarte Ascendare!_ " The man shouted as he jumped out of the way. Harry lazily put up a shield and responded by throwing a blood boiler at the Auror. This struck the man in the side and he let out a yelp (Pathetic, wasn't he supposed to be a trained wizard?). Harry quickly followed the blood boiler with a Sectumsempra and was pleased to watch as it tore cuts around an inch thick all over the man's chest.

The man died a moment later and Harry turned to see that Lucius had quickly dealt with the other man and the only one remaining was the one that had taken cover behind the desk. When Harry walked around the desk, he found the man must have moved, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He called in a singsong voice. He heard the door slam and saw through the window as the Auror ran from the office and towards the Hit Wizard headquarters. Harry rolled his eyes, of course someone was bound to do that.

A few other Death Eaters entered the offices and started searching for prey and Harry exited the office area. He looked around to see that Aurors and Hit Wizards were fighting the large groups of Death Eaters. Harry noted a large group of Aurors heading his way and sent a moderately large blasting curse towards the ground in front of them. He watched with pleasure as a few surprised ones were impaled with large stone and dirt spikes. The others were either slightly injured or had managed to put up shields. The majority of the Aurors responded with a mix of stunners, disarmers, and other moderately peaceful spells. Harry quickly crouched and cast a shield, this made it so that he only had to block two, instead of the six he'd have had to block if he'd stayed standing. The two stunners reflected off of his shield and were absorbed into shields by the Aurors.

Harry glanced at them and noted that they looked to be a trained team. Of the dozen or so Aurors, there were three completely defensive ones visible, standing nearer to the front. There were two behind them that didn't even bother trying to defend themselves from spells, so Harry assumed they were completely offense. Harry cast three Kovrilo's at the defensive Aurors and watched with glee as the spell went right through their shields and struck them. He knew they'd be able to shield once again in a matter of seconds, so he quickly cast a variety of dark curses at them, including a killing curse. Harry took a moment to breathe as he felt his magic levels dropping low.

He summoned a sword and quickly spelled it while he apparated behind the group. Then he used his dragon-enhanced strength to dash at the confused Aurors and tear them apart with his sword. He watched as two of them died as their heads cleanly flopped off their heads. Harry took a moment to wonder if they'd become ghosts and join the Headless Hunt. He quickly turned to see that a female Auror had cast a spell at him and he quickly ducked before stabbing an Auror in the side. They had all gone out of their shock at seeing him speed-apparate and Harry quickly apparated back to where he'd been standing.

He quickly counted to see that there were only seven Aurors remaining, and three of them were injured greatly. He turned to shoot another string of spells at them only to find his accidental magic sprang up to defend him against a torrent of stunners. Harry turned to see at least six hit wizards with their wands raised towards him. Harry could barely stop himself from showing how magically exhausted he was. He sent a desperate glance at Bellatrix, who immediately noticed and finished off the Auror she'd been torturing. She then turned towards the hit wizards and cast a crucio towards them. Harry would have sighed if black hadn't been creeping into his vision. He quickly borrowed as much energy as he could from Goliath, it wasn't much, as he had been slowly leaking it as he'd been fighting. It was enough though for Harry to stop himself from fainting and quickly he apparated himself, Bellatrix, Lucius, and a very injured Nott back to Death Eater headquarters.

He managed to stop himself from collapsing as he appeared in the main room. He looked around to see that around half of the Death Eaters had somehow managed to escape the Ministry before the exits had been blocked. Harry was surprised by this as it seemed that the Aurors had been too focused on him to bother blocking the exits. Granted, he was way more important than everyone there combined minus Bellatrix and Lucius. He grinned at his lack of modesty and watched with cold eyes as many Death Eaters nursed their wounds. They also were gossiping (Yes, murdering, ruthless Death Eaters gossip) about how Harry had destroyed the Aurors. Naturally, the story had been exaggerated to the point of Harry wandlessly blasting a hundred Aurors with the Killing Curse all at once.

Harry briskly walked over to the floo, his lack of magic was starting to stress his physical abilities as well. He grabbed a handful of the fine powder and threw it into the fire and watched as the green flames sprung up in the fire. Stepping through, Harry exited Death Eater headquarters and entered Riddle Manor. He spotted the Dark Lord sitting in a dark royal green seat, watching as Harry entered. Harry reflexively went into a deep bow, "My lord," he addressed.

"I take the raid was up to your satisfaction?" The Dark Lord asked.

"Yes my lord, thank you my lord," Harry responded.

"Good, because I will not be letting you go on any raids until summer time," the Dark Lord told him, "And one 'my lord' per statement is enough," he added coldly.

"Yes, my lord. No more raids? Not even o-" Harry started to whine.

"Do NOT question my orders boy, _Crucio!_ " the Dark Lord responded.

Harry winced as the painful curse hit him, he ground his teeth for a moment, "Yes, my lord. I'm sorry for doubting you," He gritted out.

"Very well," the Dark Lord responded, "Now, go clean yourself up, you have two hours before you are expected back at Hogwarts and I expect you to be capable of turning yourself back into that silly character of a boy you are?" He ordered.

Harry held back a cheeky remark about the Dark Lord secretly actually appreciating him and instead quickly left the room. He practically slid up the stairs and collapsed onto his bed, casting an alarm to wake him up in an hour just before he fell asleep.

 _Brrriiiriiiiiiiiiiiii!_ Harry sat up quickly, cancelling the charm. Blinking, Harry ungracefully stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. In retrospect, his nap was a horrible idea, as now he could clearly feel each and every one of his muscles screaming for him to lay back down again. He reached out his bond to Goliath only to find the dragon had gone into a temporary coma to recover the energy Harry had taken. Harry winced, it would likely take the dragon a week before waking up again extremely hungry and likely in a foul temper. Groaning, Harry fell into the bathtub and ordered a house elf to fill it with warm water and clean his robes, which he'd taken off. Normally, he'd just take off his robes and summon the water he needed, but he wasn't sure his magic should be pushed any more.

Harry let out a contented sigh as he lay in the water. Other than his face and hands, his body was relatively clean since he'd showered that morning. After half an hour, Harry got out of the bathtub and with a simple shake of his head his slightly magical hair was immediately dry. Luckily it hadn't taken any magical energy, or else Harry probably would have collapsed again. He wrapped himself in a warm green towel and walked over to the mirror.

He looked into it and smiled at his reflection. Dark magic and his odd relation to the Dark Lord had slowly diverted his appearance from what Harry assumed it would have looked like. When he was younger, anyone who actually payed attention to him thought he'd look exactly like his birth father with his birth mother's eyes. Instead, he had extremely dark and wispy hair, which he contributed to magic, that seemed to be made of shadows by both appearance and touch. His eyes cast an eerie glow that clearly portrayed his emotions and mood, or at least the emotions and moods he showed. He had high cheekbones that made him slightly resemble the Dark Lord along with his practically white skin. His nose didn't hook outwards as much as a normal person's and was much straighter than normal, in all other ways though it was average. He had his adopted father's slightly sharp and arching eyebrows. The rest of his features resembled Potter's though, and he had no features that resembled Lily Potter anymore.

Harry glanced at a tall silver clock and saw that in about fifteen minutes he would be expected back at Hogwarts. He quickly got into his black school robes and made sure they were in exactly the condition they should be, slightly ruffled but otherwise in perfect condition. Harry double checked no blood was on him and pulled out an enchanted washcloth to gently clean the drops of blood that had fallen onto his wands. With one last inspection, Harry checked the clock and apparated to Hogwarts. This evidently stressed his magical energy to a point that made Harry collapse. He lay on the floor gasping for a few minutes before putting a false look of excitement (Even if he would have enjoyed Wizard's chess normally he was way too tired to get excited). He exited his room and trotted down the stairs to the common room.

The common room was empty except for Ron, as most of the students had gone home on Winter Break. Ron waved to Harry and Harry grinned while he waved back, "So, how do I play?" Harry asked.

"Well first you need a set to play with, but luckily I was able to borrow Seamus's set so you have one to play with," Ron told him, handing Harry a set of red chess players. "Normally sets are either white or black, but some have unique colorations, like red or blue..." Ron explained the rules to Harry, Harry nodded along, he'd read the rules so many times when he was younger he understood most of it, although it was helpful that the Weasley boy also told him a few basic plays.

"Okay, that seems easy enough!" Harry exclaimed, he'd heard from Griffith that Ron was talented at wizard's chess and prepared for the blow to his pride at the possibility of being beaten.

"White always goes first," Ron started, ordering his first piece to move.

In the beginning of the game, Harry was still getting the hang of ordering his pieces to move about and had to stop himself from yelling at them when they kept arguing with everything he did. Harry usually took very long on each turn, something that would ruin him if he was a leader in a normal battle. It seemed that the game came as a second nature to the Weasley boy, and each move was done instantly after Harry played. By the time he was one third into the game, three of his less-important pieces had been stabbed, slashed, and destroyed.

The middle of the game was a bit better, Harry knew what he was doing and was experimenting less and playing strategically more. His pieces still complained about the moves he chose to do, but they didn't refuse to move where he asked them to. He looked over the board and could obviously see that he was on the defensive. Ron dominated the majority of the board and was closing in on Harry's remaining pieces.

The end of the game was basically Harry admitting he was going to lose and trying to remove as many of Ron's pieces as possible. When he finally lost, Harry had (somehow) managed to take ten of Ron's pieces, leaving only six. Harry let himself frown slightly as he lost.

"Good game mate! You're a bloody natural, most players don't do that well, don't feel bad," Ron encouraged.

Harry looked up with fake curiosity, "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah," Ron told him, "Hey, Fred, George, isn't getting ten of my pieces before losing to me pretty good for a first-timer?" Harry asked.

The twins, who had just been entering the room turned with exaggerated shock towards Harry and Ron, "You mean the Ickle-"

"Praet was able to actually destroy"

"More than one of your"

"Pieces before he was completely"

"Demolished?" They gasped.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Do you guys really do that naturally and without rehearsing or anything?" He asked.

"Yup!" They responded.

 **AN Yeah! Chapter fifteen. I'm trying to work on my fight scene skills, but as you can tell I'm not great at it. Anyways, I'll try to update ASAP with chapter sixteen, which will hopefully have Christmas in it and possibly the Mirror of Erised.**

 **IMPORTANT: This is an edit I'm putting in after having not updated, this story is going to be discontinued until further notice, I have lost all inspiration to continue.**

 **On a more happy note (sort of) I'm thinking about starting a new story that will likely end up just like this one… that isn't good is it?**

 **-Ariana Flynn Riddle**


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